The Lethal Duo
by TheCursedSoul729
Summary: They were born into the world with only chaos and death to greet them. For on that exact day, their parents and many others had died. A great burden was then passed unto them: To Naruto, the beast that had tried to destroy the village was sealed unto him; and to Minashi, the instinctive obligation to be dragged down in whatever Naruto does. What will their fate be?
1. Chapter 1: The Namikaze Twins

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. :-) But I sure love it! ^_^**

**Here's a little fanfiction that I made for fun.**

**I'm not really good with writing so I'll apologize in advance if there are any grammar and spelling errors. Enjoy! ^_^**

**Naruto Namikaze:**

"Naruto...Oi! Naruto! Wake up already!" I hear a voice shout and feel myself being shaken gently.

I groan and roll over, pulling my blanket up to cover myself. "Five more minutes, Minashi."

I feel the blanket being removed from me, making me wince once the sun hits my face.

"You already told me that thirteen times, Naruto! Get up! We're gonna be late!" Minashi's voice rings in my ear and then I hear the sound of footsteps walking away.

I sigh. No reason to try and fall asleep now. So, I stand up and wobble my way to the dining room while I squint my eyes, letting it adjust to my surroundings. When my eyesight is back to normal, I grin at the sight of the food on the table. Ramen!

I clap my hands in delight. "Wow! You're the best!" I praise Minashi, who's currently placing the bowls on the table.

She sighs. "Praises won't help us get to school on time, Naruto." She tells me. "Hurry up and take a bath! You only have 40 minutes left or we'll be late for school!" She commands in her usual bossy tone.

"Yeah...yeah..." I say with a roll of my eyes and head for the bathroom. Once I reach it, I close the door and start the bath.

Anyway, I am Naruto Namikaze. Twelve years old. I have blonde spiky hair, blue eyes, tanned skin and whisker marks on my face.

The loud girl in the kitchen is Minashi Namikaze, my twin sister. She has long crimson red hair that reaches up to her thighs. She usually ties it up in a braid to keep it from bothering her though.

Well, to sum it up, Minashi looks a lot like mom, only younger.

Oh! Did I forget to mention that we know who our parents are and pretty much know everything about ourselves? Well...we do. But, that was before a certain something happened.

_~Flashback(5 years ago)~_

_I am walking around the streets, careful not to run into any villagers. They beat me up every time they see me so it would be best if I steer clear of them. I don't know why they do it though._

_I had just bought ramen from Ichiraku's so my sister and I can eat. Luckily the old man there is kind, unlike the other villagers who are so mean._

_Minashi doesn't know about the beatings I get though. I've hidden it from her ever since. I would make up excuses just so she won't know. I know she will do everything she can to try and protect me. But I don't want my twin to get hurt just because of me. I don't want to drag her into this. I've already dragged her down with me, far enough._

_Now, all I needed is to take one more turn and I would be home. But, one of the villagers sees me and calls the others. I try to run from them but they are too fast. My short legs could not let me go any faster._

_Once they catch me, they start to beat me up. I try my best to block out as much hits as I could as they beat me._

_"Naruto!" I hear my sister's voice call out to me. No! Minashi!_

_I can't help but feel worried. She shouldn't have seen me._

_"Stay away, Minashi!" I shout to her despite still being beaten up. "If they see you, they'll beat you up too." I add while desperately curling up into a ball because of the pain._

_I close my eyes, trying hard to endure. This is nothing. I've been through these things many times. One more will not kill me. They will leave me alone soon._

_However, the beatings come to a stop and I hear the villagers start to scream in panic. The screaming continues and I decide to open my eyes and see what's going on._

_Just in time, I see the last of the still standing villagers being pulled away from me by a sort of chain - one that glows in gold._

_I look around. The villagers are all lying on the ground as chains continue to swirl and whip around, seemingly protecting me._

_When the chains disperse, there stands in front of me, is Minashi, looking very worn out. _

_"Minashi?" I can't help but say. She turns to me, giving me a weak smile and then starts walking toward me. But with just two steps, she falls on her knees._

_I immediately support her and she falls unconscious in my arms. I look at her with a smile. I don't know how she did those things with the chains. But I think it's cool._

_Breaking away from my thoughts, I fearfully look around as the villagers slowly get up. They'll start beating us up again._

_I stand up, carrying Minashi's unconscious form in my arms. She had protected me. Now this time, I will protect her even if it's the last thing I do._

_I start running as fast as I can as the villagers start to chase after me. It is very hard to run with Minashi in my arms but I've got to try._

_Suddenly, I feel an outburst of energy occur inside of me and before I knew it, I zoom away, leaving the villagers in an instant. _

_I stop at the village gate and slowly lower Minashi to the ground. My eyesight is getting unusually blurry and I feel very weak. What's happening? I try to keep myself up but I can't. I drop to the ground and then, everything goes black._

_I wake up at the sight of white ceiling right in above of me. I close my eyes again. That's funny. I thought Minashi and I lived in an apartment that has a blue ceiling._

_Then, my eyes shot open when I remember everything that happened. I immediately sit up, ignoring the pain of my dizzy head, and look around._

_I see Minashi asleep on a bed just across the room - a room that is all white in color. Where are we anyway? The place looks clean and tidy. I know I've never been to this place before._

_Suddenly, the doorknob turns, making me get off the bed and take the small knife I find on a tray of fruits in reflex. I immediately go near Minashi who just woke up. Whoever these people are, I won't let them harm my sister._

_I pull Minashi behind me protectively and ready myself for a fight. An old man, wearing all white with a tinge of red enters with two ninjas behind him._

_"Stay away from us!" I hiss while threateningly slashing at them._

_One of the ninja's said, "Whoaw! Calm down kid!", while gesturing me to calm down._

_My hands tremble as I hold on to the knife. I'm scared._

_"What do you want from us?!" I hiss._

_"It's alright, children." The old man says in a very calm tone. "I'm here to help you. Don't worry I won't harm you."_

_I narrow my eyes at him, observing every move he makes. Should I trust him?_

_"If you let your men leave, then we will believe you." Minashi says._

_I nod in agreement, but my eyes not leaving the old man. I just can't help and feel suspicious. No one has ever offered to help us before. Well, except for the Hokage, whom we had not met, but is sending us money for food and clothes._

_"Very well." The old man says as he gestures at the ninjas to go._

_The ninjas go out the door, making me sigh in relief and put the knife down._

_"Naruto...Minashi...It is so nice to see you again." The old man says, making me and Minashi tense up._

_"Who are you? And how do you know us?" Minashi says suspiciously._

_But the old man just smiles warmly, not at all affected by Minashi's tone. "I am the Third Hokage." He says. "But you can call me gramps."_

_"You are the Hokage?" I say. "You're the one who sends money to us?"_

_"Yes. My dear children." He says, looking at us with kind and caring eyes, a look Minashi and I had never ever seen from most of the villagers. "The two ninjas who were with me a while ago are the ones who found you unconscious on the ground and brought you to me. I immediately recognized you and had you brought to the hospital."_

_"Thank you.." Minashi says. "..for all the help you have given to us. We would not have survived this long without your help."_

_"I'm so sorry." He says. "I'm sorry for not being able to provide more. Nor meet with you through all these years. It must seem that I have forgotten you."_

_"Who are we exactly, Gramps?" I can't help but say._

_"What do you mean?" He says, confusion etched on his face. "You are Naruto and Minashi Uzumaki."_

_"We know that!" Minashi is the one to speak up, standing up and looking at Gramps with her strong and determined eyes. "It's just that we've lived our whole lives not knowing anything about ourselves except our names and that we're orphans. Everybody seems to hate my brother and just a while ago, I saw the people beating him up. But why?! Did he ever do anything wrong to them?!"_

_I just stare at Minashi, amazed that she had just spoken that way to a grown man without hesitation. She has always been the serious one of us two._

_"I'm sorry." Gramps says, sighing. "I hid the truth from you, thinking that it would harm you. But now, I will tell you everything."_

_~End of Flashback~_

Gramps told us all about Mom, Dad, the kyuubi inside me and more. After knowing the truth, Minashi and I were very surprised. But in time, we recovered and decided to have our surname changed to Namikaze.

Gramps had explained to us that it might be dangerous. Our Father was the fourth Hokage and our mother was a strong kunoichi. And the enemies they had made might come after us. But Minashi and I had our decision fixed. Now is not the time to hide.

Gramps also explained to us the weird things that had happened to us that very day. The golden chains Minashi had, and my speed. It seems we had unlocked our Bloodline Limit.

Minashi inherited the Uzumaki and Namikaze Bloodline Limit from both Mom and Dad. She can wield the chakra chains and has the Namikaze speed. While I only inherited the Namikaze Bloodline Limit from Dad, which gives me speed.

I also know that the kyuubi is sealed into me. Dad was the one who did it. He saved the village but also lost his life when he did. I sigh at the thought. If only he and mom were still alive. Minashi and I, would be very happy.

Anyway, about my sister. She always acts superior on me. It's like she's my mother or something. But, she knows what she's doing most of the time, so I got used to it and obey her.

Also, by the age of ten, Minashi and I were strong enough to raise our ranks as ninja. Minashi as jounin, and me as a chunin. And that is exactly what we did but decided to let only a few people know. After all, we are still kids.

As for how we got so good at such a short time, Gramps assigned to us some ninjas that could train us. Iruka-sensei and Ibiki are two of many more. They are really good ninjas. Very skilled indeed.

Anyway, as of now, Minashi and I, are in a mission to work undercover. So, we were enrolled to the academy in order to fish out a traitor among the teachers. Rumor has it that there is one. For the sake of the mission, we changed our surname back to Uzumaki so we can avoid unwanted attention.

Minashi and I always work together on missions. Gramps knows that we are strong when we are together. So, he seldomly sends us to missions without one another. I know very well that without my sister, I would be a bow without an arrow - useless. The same goes for her, I think.

"NARUTO!" I hear Minashi yell, pounding at the bathroom door. I almost jumped, startled by her.

"What?!" I yell back in annoyance while calming myself.

I hear her heave a sigh before saying, "You've been in the bathroom for twenty minutes! I thought I told you to hurry up!"

"I am hurrying!" I yell as I continue taking a bath in a much faster pace. I don't wanna mess with my sister. She goes all meanie once you get her started. And she could go the whole day until you make it up to her.

Then, in a few moments, I go out the bathroom and rush to my room to get dressed.

**Minashi Namikaze:**

All I can do is sigh at my brother's snail-like behavior. There is nothing else I can do anyway. I have to put up with it everyday.

He goes out his room all dressed up in his orange clothes. I can't help but smirk a bit. He really hates wearing these orange clothing but since his role in this undercover mission is a stupid pupil who likes orange, he has to endure it for now.

However, I can say the same about myself. Instead of my usual, neatly braided hair, I had it on a messy bun. And instead of being usually well groomed and smart, I let myself look like I'm haggard and seem to not have time to groom myself.

I am wearing a loose gray T-shirt and then some trousers I got from my brother's clothes. And then, ninja sandals.

Naruto dumps himself on a chair opposite to mine. "Stop smirking, Minashi." He says, giving me an unimpressed look. "This is only for the mission. And you should look at yourself before you start smirking at me."

I give him a pout. "Hey. At least I'm not the one wearing orange clothes." I tell him. "And besides I was enjoying myself." I say teasingly.

He rolls his eyes good-naturedly. "Whatever, Minashi." He says and then starts eating.

Then, three knocks on the door makes me stand up immediately and head to the door, leaving Naruto to eat. I try to make out the chakra signature of the person behind the door. I sense his chakra is calm and refined. An Anbu, no doubt.

So, I put on my emotionless face as I open the door. True enough, an Anbu stands on my porch. He immediately bows down when he sees me, acknowledging my presence. I bow back, greeting him a good morning.

"Lady Minashi..." His deep voice says as he now gets up. I can now see that he is wearing a white mask with swirling designs adorning it. And then he wears black clothing. A typical Anbu. It is said they no longer own their lives. They had pledged it to the village. If their mission is to die for the village, they would willingly do it. It's quite sad, really.

"What is it?" I ask calmly in a serious tone.

He hands me a scroll. "Lord Hokage sent me to give you this." He says, voice slightly muffled by his mask. But I still hear it clearly, nonetheless. "He says you'll know what to do from then on." He adds.

I nod. "Thank you." I say and he immediately vanishes in a puff of smoke, not even saying a your welcome.

I close the door and walk back to the dining room. "Gramps sent you a mission." I say, reading Naruto's name on the scroll.

"What is it?" He replies, mouth full of food.

I sweat-drop. Sometimes, I just doubt if he's really my twin brother.

Then, I brush the thought off. "I dunno. Probably something that would fortify our cover." I say as I hand him the scroll. I did not read the contents. I will know it later anyway.

I can see Naruto smirking as he reads the scroll, making me sigh. If he's smirking like that, it probably means he'll enjoy doing this mission. And what's more enjoyable to him, than acting dumb in front of those people who do not know our rank?

Then, in a few minutes, we finish getting ready and head off to school, both wearing our backpacks.

While we are halfway to the academy, Naruto stops. "Go on, Sis. I have a mission to do." He tells me with a wicked smile.

I give him a nod and he leaps away, heading to who knows where. While I continue my pace, walking to the academy.

I arrive at the classroom, seven minutes late. I could hear Iruka's voice inside and it only tells me he's started the discussion. I open the door slowly, trying not to get anyone's attention. Unfortunately, the door creaked really loud and all attention is pinned to me. Crud.

Iruka-sensei stops his discussion and turns to me. "Minashi! You're late! Again!" He says, sounding angry.

But I see in his eyes a glint of amusement. He is one of a few people who know that Naruto and I are undercover and he's enjoying himself as my teacher as of now.

"Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that." I tell him with a shrug. "I'll be more earlier next time." I add and then head for my seat.

Iruka-sensei can enjoy himself as my superior all he wants. In truth, my rank may be higher than his but I respect him all the same. He is a very good ninja.

"Where is your brother?" Iruka-sensei asks.

"Don't know." I reply lifelessly. "Don't care. He left the house before I did."

Suddenly, the door flings open and two ninjas whom I'm not quite familiar with, enter.

"Iruka-san! Naruto doodled on the faces of the Hokages on the Hokage Mountain!" One of the ninjas yells. I had to do everything in my power to stop myself from smirking at the priceless looks on their faces.

"WHAT?!" Iruka-sensei yells as he left, running with the two ninjas.

All of my classmates turned to me, looking like they blame me or something. And I know it's because Naruto is my brother.

"What?" I ask them with a raise of an eyebrow.

"You know why, Minashi." Ino says in a girly tone, crossing her arms and looking at me accusingly. "You know Naruto is stupid and you are his sister. Why don't you stop him from doing stupid things?"

That seems to make me angry. Nobody calls my brother stupid. Only I can do that. However, I know better than to argue with the likes of her so I keep my anger bottled inside. It's not worth it.

"I don't really care, Ino." I tell her. "He's my brother, yes. But I don't think that makes me responsible for the things he's done nor the things he might do."

"It does, Minashi." Sakura is the one to say, still looking at me the way Ino is. I do everything in my power to stop myself from rolling my eyes. Why can't they just leave me alone? "You are related to him. And that makes him your responsibility."

"Whatever." I say in a bored tone. "I'm getting bored with all this chitchat so just leave me alone and go mind your own girly businesses." I tell them sharply.

This seems to hurt them. Ino is about to walk toward me but Sakura stops her. "Leave her be, Ino." She says, glaring at me. "Someone like her will never understand."

If only you knew. I can't help but think. I understand more than anyone here ever will.

Once the two girls leave me alone, I decide to rest my head on my desk, closing my eyes and concentrate on my surroundings.

In about twenty minutes, I sense Iruka-sensei come back inside the classroom, dragging a tied up person along with him. I don't raise my head though. I still have it rested on my arms.

I recognize the chakra signature of the tied up person. I could recognize it anywhere - my brother.

If I know better, Naruto can undo those ropes in no time. But, since we're undercover, he just have to bear with it.

"Naruto! Why do you have to give me such a hard time?!" Iruka-sensei exclaims. "Why can't you sit in my class and behave?! Your graduation is coming up tomorrow and you are acting this way!"

"If your lessons aren't so boring, I would be listening to you! Believe it!" Naruto retorts.

"That's it!" Iruka-sensei says angrily. "Everyone, we'll do a review on the Transfigure Technique! Fall in line!"

Mostly everyone complains and blames Naruto. In fact, only Hinata and I, aren't blaming Naruto. That Hyuuga heiress had her eyes on my brother ever since we were enrolled to the academy. It would seem she has a little crush on him. I don't mind. I like her for my brother anyway.

I sense everyone starts to form a line but I don't get up yet. This is part of the mission - to act like I'm someone who doesn't care about the world.

However, I sense someone come near me and gives me a little push - the arrogant Uchiha. It seems he is kind enough to care about me missing the review.

I raise my head, feigning sleepiness. I then turn to him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you want, Uchiha?" I ask with a fake but convincing yawn. "And it better be good."

He looks at me, seemingly amused by the way I'm acting. Who knew that the ever arrogant Uchiha is amused by these kind of things. "Iruka says we have to review the Transfigure Technique." He says calmly. "No thanks to your idiotic brother." He adds.

I roll my eyes at him. "Yeah. Yeah." I say, not really caring. "Blame him all you want, Uchiha. I don't care." I get up, making my way to the front. I even pretend to wobble to and fro. That's what people who had just awoken would do, right?

"Sakura Haruno!" Iruka-sensei calls.

And here I am, criticizing him a bit. I just don't get it. Why does he keep on calling our names when we have already fallen in line? I mean, what's the purpose of it?

"Sasuke Uchiha."

I sigh, getting tired of observing things. My turn is not after Naruto's. So, I decide not to pay attention until it's Naruto's turn.

Naruto steps up, does the necessary hand sign and yells, "Transfigure!"

In a puff of smoke, Naruto transforms into a nude girl, only smoke covering the private parts. I sigh, looking at my twin in disbelief, as Iruka-sensei falls over in a nosebleed. I knew he would do something like this.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THIS IN MY CLASS!" Iruka-sensei yells at Naruto once he recovers from his nosebleed.

But, I know he's just trying to cover up for the embarrassment he had, having a nosebleed like that. He continues lecturing Naruto about doing pranks and other wrong things.

Naruto, however, doesn't listen to a thing Iruka-sensei says. He just walks back to his seat, not even minding our classmates that are glaring at him.

And I can't help but admire him. He is really good at this undercover stuff.

"Okay." Iruka-sensei says, clearing his throat and letting Naruto off for now. "Let's move on. Minashi Uzumaki." He calls my name.

I step in front, do a hand sign and transform into Gramps. I decide not to flunk this one. I've had enough flunking in this class anyway.

"Well what do you know.." Iruka-sensei says, nodding and taking note of my success. "..it seems someone's been practicing at home. Good job, Minashi."

I smile at him and then head to my seat. Once I reach it, I resume resting my head on the desk.

**Sasuke Uchiha:**

I would steal glances at Minashi's arched back whenever no one is looking. She is sitting right in front of me, so glancing would not be a problem.

The whole period and even the next one, she has her head rested on her arms. I don't know if she's even listening to the teacher's discussions. I'm guessing she's asleep.

Quite lazy, really. But despite that, I still find her quite amusing in her own way. She's better than those girls who fangirl over me. They're just plain annoying. Her? She's not girly at all and that makes her ten times better.

**Minashi Namikaze:**

The day goes on. More of Naruto's pranks and fake stupidity takes place in the classroom. And Iruka-sensei discusses something in class, which I didn't bother to listen to since I already know those things.

I just spent most of my time in the classroom, resting my head on my desk or staring out of the window, as I am sitting right beside it. Could this day get any boring?

Once classes are over, Iruka-sensei dismisses the class, but makes me and Naruto stay behind. And then, when everyone is gone, all three of us sneak off to the Hokage tower.

There, Gramps greets us with his grandfatherly smile. "Children, how was your day?" He asks, stopping all his work just to listen to us.

"It was fun!" Naruto says with a wide grin. "I got to do plenty of pranks on everyone. And I accidentally spilled red pain all over one ninja's face. You should have seen it, Gramps. It was so funny!" He says excitedly, laughing at the last part.

Gramps chuckles at him and then turns to me. "And what about you, Minashi?" He asks. "How was your day?"

I smile at him. "Honestly, it was really boring." I say. "I got so bored that I decided to spend most of the day observing my classmates." I add. "And unfortunately, I can tell that only few will make it as true genin. They will graduate tomorrow. But from their assigned instructors, I doubt it. Most of them are not taking it seriously."

Gramps nods. "I see." He says. "Still observant as ever, Minashi."

After that, Gramp's smile disappears and he picks up his pen again to write. This makes all of us to turn serious. That was an indication to start discussing the mission. And it means we need to act all serious. He faces Naruto. "And your solo mission?"

With a smirk, Naruto hands him the mission scroll. "Mission Cover Fortification: Doodle on the Hokage Mountain, Accomplished." He announces.

Iruka-sensei's eyes widen in disbelief, something I had guessed that would happen. "Hokage-sama! You actually sent Naruto-san to doodle on the Hokage Mountain?!" He asks in disbelief.

"Yes." Gramps replies calmly. "Why?"

"Uh.. I just could not believe it." Iruka-sensei says.

Gramps then lights up his pipe and pauses, seemingly in thought. "Naruto and Minashi will clean the mountain." He says after a few seconds.

"WHAT?!" Naruto exclaims, eyes wide and face contorted into shock. "You can't be serious, Gramps." He whines with a pout.

"Oh but I am, Child." Gramps says with an amused smile. "You and Minashi will clean up. Iruka will supervise."

"But I'm tired." Naruto complains. "And I have something to do back at the house." He turns to me expectantly. "Right Minashi?"

I deadpan at him. "You know very well that I do all the work at home, Brother." I say with a smile.

He crosses his arms, glaring at me. "I hate chu." He says and then pouts, turning back to Gramps. He remains silent after that.

Iruka-sensei chuckles. "What do you say I treat you at Ichiraku's once you're done?" He tells us.

Once those words leave Iruka-sensei's mouth, Naruto instantly brightens and grins ever so energetically. "Deal!" He exclaims and then turns to Gramps. "Well, gotta go, Gramps. We have a mountain to clean up! Believe it!"

Then, without wasting another second, he uses his Namikaze speed to zoom out of the office, leaving Iruka and I standing there.

I sigh, turning to Gramps seriously. "As for the undercover mission.." I say. "I might have found a suspect to whoever had stolen our important scrolls."

"Go on." Gramps says, not sparing me a glance. He continues to write on the papers.

"I believe his name is Mizuki.." I say. "He is a new teacher. He handles our taijutsu lessons. Based on research, he just became a teacher three months ago. And that was the time when the scrolls had gone missing. I've seen him snooping about the village during night once. But I stopped following him once I sense that he's suspecting that someone is following him." I stop speaking right there.

Gramps nods. "I see." He says, now turning to me. "You and your brother are doing very well in this mission. I expect you will succeed?" He asks.

"We have to." I tell him. "If the traitor is not found before he decides to leak out the information he got from the scrolls, it would be a disaster."

He nods and I can see in his eyes that he is proud of the way I had grown up to be. "Thank you, Minashi." He says. "Well, since tomorrow is graduation, that means it is your last day to try and capture the traitor."

"Yes." I reply. "We will do everything we can to find him. Even force him out if time gets desperate."

"Hey hey.." I hear Naruto's voice from behind us, making me turn to him. He stands, leaning on the door. He is sweating so much that he seems to be bathing in his sweat.

"What happened to you?" I ask him as I take a towel from my bag and hand it to him. Eagerly, he takes it from me and starts drying himself with it.

"Oh nothing really, I just finished cleaning up the mountain." He says smugly.

"Whoaww!" Iruka exclaims in wonder; staring out the window, and at the spotless hokage mountain. "That fast? Amazing!"

"Oh don't praise him, Iruka-sensei." I say, turning to my brother who's currently smirking proudly. "It will only make him even more arrogant." I narrow my eyes at him as he turns to comment at what I said. "You had better be sure no one saw you." I tell him before he can say anything.

"Geez, don't worry about it." He says. "I have it all under control. Believe it, Sis."

I sigh and then smile. "Good."

**Naruto Namikaze:**

"Naruto-san.. how did you and Minashi-san become such skilled ninjas at such a young age?" Iruka-sensei asks, as the three of us sits at Ichiraku's. It seems we are the only customers for now.

"We train a lot." I tell him. "Ever since Gramps told us everything about us, we pushed ourselves to be more than we were; which, at that time, are nobodies."

"I see." He says. "It must be hard to live by yourselves then."

I nod. "That's what Minashi and I thought." I reply with a sad smile. "Especially with the Kyuubi sealed inside me. Everybody hates me and they even beat me up."

Iruka-sensei doesn't say anything. He looks as if he is deep in thought. So, I decide to lighten up his mood. "Luckily Minashi and I have you!." I tell him with a wide grin. "..and Gramps, and all the other people who are acknowledging my existence. You made my life a whole lot better." I say proudly. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

This makes him smile and look at me with eyes so full of emotion. But, I'm not the type of person who can tell what a person feels just by looking their eyes; so, I can't tell what emotions he's feeling. Probably happiness or something.

Suddenly, Minashi pinches my side, making me turn to her with the meanest glare I can give her. I can't help it. My sister's got a crab-like pinch. And man! That hurts so bad!

I was about to yell at her but didn't get to when I see the look of emergency in her eyes.

"Mizuki, eight o'clock." She says in a whisper. But it is loud enough for only me to hear.

**Minashi Namikaze:**

After I said that, Naruto immediately turns to Iruka-sensei. "Say Iruka-sensei! Can I borrow that head protector of yours?" He says, sounding like a child begging for candy.

I can't help but smile. Naruto is really fast when it comes to changing his behavior.

But Iruka-sensei raises an eyebrow, confusion evident on his reaction. "Head Protector?" He asks.

Sensing Mizuki nearing, I immediately do a last minute gesture to Iruka, hoping he would get it. And then, without wasting time, I turn to the opposite direction; eating my ramen in a slow pace and acting like I don't care about what Naruto and Iruka are talking about.

Fortunately, Iruka-sensei gets the point. "Oh this? Oh! No.. no.. You have to graduate in order to get one of these." He says, playing along with our façade.

"If it isn't Iruka-san and the Uzumaki twins." I hear Mizuki's voice say in a calm manner.

I turn around, along with Iruka and my brother, although I did the turning in an uninterested manner.

"Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto says energetically.

I turn back to my ramen, acting like I'm no longer interested with the things about to occur. "What brings you three here?" Mizuki asks.

"Oh! Iruka-sensei treated us for a good job, cleaning the Hokage Mountain." I hear Naruto reply.

"I see." Mizuki says. "Still uninterested as ever, Minashi?" He adds, probably turning to me now. But I don't say anything and just continue eating.

"Oi! Lazy sister! Mizuki-sensei's talking to you." Naruto yells at me.

I turn to Mizuki, sparing him a bored glance. "Oh hey, Mizuki-sensei." I say in a lifeless tone and then turn back to my ramen.

Mizuki just chuckles at what I did. "My my.." He says in an amused tone. "Okay then.. I'll leave you guys now. Tomorrow is graduation and I have so much plans for it." He seems to emphasize the word plan, as what I have noticed.

And with that, Mizuki leaves. Iruka and Naruto turn back to their ramen and starts eating it all off. I have finished mine already so I just wait for them. After eating, we go our separate ways and head home

**Up next on The Lethal Duo, Chapter 2: Traitor Captured.**


	2. Chapter 2: Traitor, Captured

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. :-) But I sure love it! _

Minashi Namikaze:

"Naruto Uzumaki!" I hear my brother's name being called out.

It's already his turn to perform the graduation test in the other room. I stand up with him and then walk to the door just as he does. In no time, we reach the door of the room where the test is held.

I wait out the door, letting my twin enter. I know I'll be called out next so I decide to just wait out here.

Also, I just had to make sure the plan works out. Hopefully, my suspicions are right and Mizuki is the traitor. And I also hope he will make a mistake and reveal himself soon.

"Yo! Iruka-sensei! Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto shouts energetically at the two teachers in front of him.

"Okay, Naruto." Iruka-sensei says seriously, as if Naruto is truly one of his students. "Earn yourself a head protector."

"YOSH! I will do my best! Believe it!" Naruto exclaims as he prepares himself, hand sign on the ready. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" He yells.

I close my eyes, sensing the events that occur within the room that they are in. That's when I sense Naruto put a little extra chakra into the technique he is performing, resulting with a rather wobbly clone. It seems he plans to flunk this test.

"Naruto, you fail!" Iruka-sensei says in a disappointed tone.

"B-but, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouts in a panicked tone. "I.. I did my best! Believe it!"

Iruka-sensei crosses his arms. "Oh I believe it, Naruto." He says. "But your best wasn't enough."

I hear Naruto heave a frustrated sigh and then grumble something I did not hear.

"Iruka-san, why not give the kid a break?" Mizuki says with concern. This gets my attention. What's he planning? "He did his best and even made a clone. Why not let him graduate?" He adds, still with feigned concern.

I continue to sense what happens. Iruka-sensei sighs. "No, Mizuki. The others have created at least three clones. Naruto may have created one, but it is useless. " He says. "Now go Naruto. My decision remains the same. You are a failure!" He adds with finality.

Ouch. What harsh words, Iruka-sensei. If only they were true. Naruto comes out the door and walks past me sadly. But I cannot miss the smirk he secretly sends at me. He's one hell of an actor.

"Minashi Uzumaki!" I hear my name being called out.

So, I step into the room in an uninterested manner. Once I stop in the middle, I let out a convincing yawn. "Good Morning." I say tiredly.

"Well. Well." Iruka-sensei says, narrowing his eyes at me. "I hope you've been up late, practicing the test and I hope you'll turn out better than your brother." He adds in a mocking tone.

I just wave my hand tiredly, dismissing the topic. "Yeah. Yeah." I say. "I don't really care. So, what's the graduation test?"

"You mean you don't know?" Mizuki asks, looking at me in disbelief. "I thought Iruka-san announced it."

I raise an eyebrow. "Maybe it was that time when I decided to sleep." I state in an uncaring manner. "Iruka-sensei's lectures are really boring, if you should know."

Mizuki lets out a rather innocent laugh while Iruka-sensei grows an anime vein.

"Alright." Mizuki says after his laughing fit. "All you have to do is make at least three bunshins in order to graduate."

"Three." I say, earning a nod from Mizuki and Iruka-sensei.

I nod to myself. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" I say, doing a hand sign.

In a puff of smoke, three clones of mine appear. What they don't know, however, is that my clones are Kage Bunshins. I never learned the Bunshin no Jutsu. But, these clones will have to do. It's not like they'll touch it anyway.

"That okay?" I ask both Mizuki and Iruka-sensei.

"Well, congratulations." Iruka-sensei says with a smile. "You've done well."

"Please get your head protector from the table." Mizuki says, gesturing me to head for the table. "You can choose any of them."

"It's not like it matters." I say in a bored tone. "They all look the same anyway." I add and then grab one of the head protectors from the table before I go out.

The graduation ends by two o'clock. I wait for everyone else to clear the academy before going out of there. Outside, I see lots of families celebrating the success of their children. But no Naruto amongst them.

I scan my eyes on the area but it's no use. So, I close my eyes and use my sensing ability. In a few moments, I sense him sitting on the swing. With him found, and there are many people in between us, I decide to just look around.

"That is him, right?" I suddenly hear from someone just beside me. I turn to look at who said those words. What I see are two women, looking at my brother. Or more like glaring at him.

"Yes, that's him." The other woman says, disgust dripping with every word she says. "The tailed beast."

"I can't believe they let him live and roam around in our village." The other woman says, making me clench my fists in anger. "He is a threat to our lives! He should be killed."

"Shhh!" The other woman scolds her friend. "He might hear you!"

I sigh, unclenching my fists as the women leave my sights. That was close. I few more negativities about my brother and I would have compromised myself.

Well, now that those women are gone, I decide to look at my brother. Most of the people have cleared the area. So, I can see him now, sitting on the swing. I am about to walk to him but I stop myself when Mizuki starts talking to him.

They talk for a few minutes and then leave. To where, I do not know.

"It seems Mizuki is on the move." I hear Gramps' voice say from behind me.

I turn around, facing him and Iruka-sensei who is right beside him. "So my suspicion is right?" I ask Gramps seriously. "He is the traitor."

"Yes." Gramps simply replies.

"Then what are we waiting for, Lord Hokage?" I ask him. "Give the order. Have him arrested."

"We have a much bigger problem than just Mizuki." Iruka-sensei suddenly says. "Our men had found out that Mizuki is working along with two other men. And you see, Mizuki had given them the scrolls."

"I see. If Mizuki is arrested, it would alert his companions and they might flee before we can find out where or who they are." I state knowingly. "You need someone to track them before Mizuki is captured or before he signals them to leave."

"Wow." Iruka-sensei says, gaping at me. "Now I know why you're a jounin."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei." I smile at his praise but then turn serious. "Now. Why are they doing this?"

"We did not get that information." Iruka-sensei says dejectedly.

I nod and then turn to Gramps. "I'm awaiting orders, Lord Hokage." I say in a business-like tone, fitting that of a grown up.

Gramps thinks for a while. "Find Mizuki's comrades." He says. "Capture them and take back what is rightfully ours!"

With that said, I leap away and start the mission.

Iruka Umino:

I lay on my bed, thinking about what the Hokage said just after Minashi had left for her own mission.

"Are you sure it is alright to let Minashi do this alone?" I ask Hokage-sama.

"I'm sure she will be alright." He replies calmly. "Minashi and Naruto are very powerful together. But Minashi is more mature compared to Naruto. She knows what needs to be done."

"I see." I say.

"Iruka, I know your parents were killed during the fight against the kyuubi." Hokage-sama suddenly says and I can't help but turn to him, surprised.

"Y-yes." I reply, realizing that I had not answered him yet.

"Since Naruto holds the kyuubi within him, do you resent him in any way?" He asks.

"No!" I say, my voice comes out louder than I expected. But I don't mind that. "I treat him like my sibling, Hokage-sama!"

Hokage-sama nods. "Good.." He says with a small smile. "As what you may have already known, Minashi and Naruto are strong for their age. But they need someone to be there and make them feel that they're not alone."

I nod, understanding him. "Don't worry, Hokage-sama." I tell him. "I will be there for them."

The sound of pounding on my door breaks me from my thoughts. Who could that be?

I get off my bed and open the door. What I see behind the door is someone whom I did not expect. Mizuki.

"Mizuki?" I can't help but say, surprised at his presence. "What are you doing here at this hour?"

"NARUTO HAS STOLEN THE SCROLL OF SEALS! YOU NEED TO COME IMMEDIATELY!!" He yells in a panicked tone.

"WHAT?!!" I can't help but yell back. If something goes wrong and Naruto has that scroll, he might release the kyuubi in the village. And as far as I know, Naruto cannot tame the beast in him.

I run back inside my house and grab my ninja sandals. Mizuki and I then take off to the Hokage tower.

Naruto. I can't help but worry for him. I take a secret glance at Mizuki, who's running in front of me. He and Naruto were together a while ago. This must be part of his plan. But I can't take him out now. Not until Minashi is back.

We reach the Hokage tower. Hokage-sama and a number of ninjas are already there. Most of the ninjas are murmuring amongst themselves, probably about the scroll of seals and Naruto.

"Hokage-sama, we must find the scroll immediately!" One ninja whom I'm not familiar with, says.

"That kid has gone too far with his pranks this time!"

"The kyuubi might be released!"

I force my way to Hokage-sama who is in thought. "What should we do, Hokage-sama?" I ask him.

"You must find Naruto at all costs and bring him to me unharmed!" Hokage-sama shouts for everyone to hear. "Is that clear?!"

"Yes Sir!" All of us yell as we set out to look for Naruto.

Naruto Namikaze:

I drop to my knees, panting. It's nighttime and here I am, near an abandoned house that's in the south forest of konoha.

It had been hours ever since I got the scroll of seals from Gramps. I borrowed it from him, of course. But anyway, there was no sign of Mizuki anywhere, and I got really bored so I decided to learn one really cool jutsu from the Scroll of Seals - the Kage Bunshin.

I bet Minashi would be so impressed to know that I had mastered this jutsu. She knows I'm not good with clones.

The sound of someone leaping on the tree branches that's to my right, breaks me from my thoughts. But I pretend to continue panting.

Iruka Umino:

I land just in front of Naruto, feigning anger. "Naruto.." I say through gritted teeth. "You little id--"

"Iruka-sensei!" He interrupts me, grinning from ear to ear. "You found me." He looks around. "Where's Mizuki?"

"Why did you steal the scroll of seals?!" I say, looking at him with urgency. I do hope he'll get the message and continue the façade. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused the village this time?!!"

He pauses, analyzing me with calculating eyes, before he grins widely and stands up energetically. "I learned one really cool jutsu from the scroll!" He exclaims excitedly. "I will show it to you and then you're gonna let me graduate, right?!"

I almost let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he got it. But, thinking that Mizuki might be here soon, I immediately feign surprise. "Who told you of such ideas?" I ask.

"Mizuki-sensei did!" He replies, with a huge grin on his face. "He told me that if I mastered all the jutsus in this scroll, you will let me graduate with the best grades!"

Naruto Namikaze:

I don't get why Iruka-sensei has to continue acting. But I just played along. There's no harm in doing it anyway.

I sense someone land on one of the branches of the trees just near us. Probably Mizuki. However, I pretend not to know he's there.

Suddenly, he throws kunais at Iruka-sensei and I, and my hand instinctively takes its hold on a mini scroll that I kept under my sleeve. It is in this scroll where I had sealed my weapons.

However, I don't get the chance to unseal my weapons since Iruka-sensei pushes me roughly to the side, making me land on the ground, right on my butt. I really wasn't expecting the push.

"Ow. Ow. That hurrrrts!" I whine as I rub my sore butt: something my pretend character would do even in situations like these. Then, I focus back on the events that occur before me.

I see Iruka-sensei is pinned to the wall of the abandoned house. There are some scratches on his arms but none are fatal so far. Mizuki is still perched on a branch of a tree, smirking evilly.

Mizuki then turns to me. "Naruto, give me the scroll!" He commands, gesturing me to give him the scroll. "If you want to live, that is." He adds with a smirk.

I secretly take hold of the mini scroll that I hid in my sleeve again.

"Naruto! Don't!" Iruka-sensei yells, getting my attention. "Don't give him the scroll!"

I can't help but look at Iruka-sensei in a questioning way, clearly confused. Why is he still acting? Mizuki had revealed himself. We can take him on right now.

Instead of saying anything to me, Iruka-sensei faces Mizuki. "Why are you doing this, Mizuki?" He asks. "What purpose do you have to take scrolls from our village?"

"Oh don't take this personally, Iruka." Mizuki answers, still smirking. "My comrades and I, it has become a hobby of ours to collect scrolls with military secrets from different villages. And then we sell it to whoever pays the highest price, which are usually the people who want to see your village collapse."

This gets my attention. Comrades? So he is not working alone. Then that means we need to find his comrades too. Before they leave the village and sell the scrolls.

"You won't get away with this!" Iruka-sensei threatens. "We have the best sensory ninja in our village! You will fail!"

I can't help but smirk inwardly. Iruka sounded so sure. And the only best sensory ninja in our village that I know is Minashi. Then that means Minashi is out there, hunting Mizuki's comrades. All I've got to do now is buy her some time.

"W-what's going on?" I ask, pretending that I am trembling in fear. "What a-are you two t-talking about?"

"Just give me the scroll, Naruto." Mizuki says with a roll of his eyes. "No questions asked. Okay?"

"Don't, Naruto!" Iruka-sensei says. "He only used you so he can get the scroll for himself!"

I turn to Mizuki with widened and confused eyes that are almost tearing up. "M-mizuki-sensei?" I call to him.

"Oh please." He says with a scoff and another roll of his eyes. "Grow up, Kid." He says with a glare. "You think the world is all good and kind? Well, it isn't. A demon such as you should know."

"D-demon?" I ask in a frail and confused voice. Although I already know that he's referring to the kyuubi that's sealed inside me. "W-what do you mean?"

Mizuki smirks. "Ohhh.. perhaps I should tell you about who you really are!" He says with glee.

"Mizuki, Don't!" Iruka-sensei shouts, now joining into my little façade.

"What do you mean by who I really am?" I ask the question that Mizuki clearly wants me to ask. "Who am I?"

"Twelve years ago, a demon fox attacked the village of Konoha." Mizuki starts. "Many died during that accident. Fortunately the fourth hokage was able to stop the demon by sealing it away in an infant baby."

"Stop it, Mizuki!!" Iruka interrupts to which Mizuki glares at him.

"Nonsense!" Mizuki yells. "He deserves to know."

Mizuki turns back to me. "Then, after that, a rule was made by the third hokage." He says. "But Naruto, only you cannot know that rule."

"Why?" I ask him. "What is that rule?"

"Mizuki, stop it!" Iruka-sensei yells once again but Mizuki ignores him.

"Naruto, you are the host of the demon!" He tells me in an exaggerated way, as if telling a very exciting story. "You are a demon! That's why everyone hates you! Even Iruka, your own teacher hates you!"

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. I know about the kyuubi sealed inside me. And yes, there might be people who hate me for being the kyuubi's host but I also know that Iruka-sensei is not one of them. He is one among the very few people who care for me.

However, I push my thoughts aside and make myself seem terrified at the new information. "I-I'm the k-kyuubi?" I ask in a trembling voice.

"It's sad, isn't it?" Mizuki says. "For having people hate you without knowing the reason why." He then gestures me to hand him the scroll once more. "And now that I told you the truth, why don't you give me the scroll? It's a nice bargain. The truth, for a scroll. Now hand it to me! Or I will make you regret keeping it from me."

I whimper away from him, embracing the gigantic Scroll of Seals.

"Heheh!" He chuckles. "If that's how you want it." He unties one giant shuriken from his back. "NOW DIE!!"

Mizuki-sensei launches the giant shuriken at me. "Naruto, DODGE!!" Iruka-sensei yells.

I immediately roll away, out of the range of the shuriken. But my eyes widen when I see the shuriken's direction had shifted, now targeting me once again. This must be Mizuki's doing. Weapon Manipulation must be his forte.

So, I activate my Bloodline Limit and wait. And on the last second, I roll away once again. This time, I manage to successfully dodge the said shuriken. It pierces the ground where I once was.

"What the!" Mizuki exclaims, wide eyed but he soon recovers and glares at me. "I was going to make it easy for you. But now, I will make you suffer!"

He jumps down from the tree he's on and makes his way to me. I crawl backwards in a helpless manner, still embracing the scroll of seals. I might have no other choice but to fight back if things get out of hand. Minashi.. you better hurry up.

But then, Iruka throws shurikens at Mizuki and unfortunately, Mizuki was able to dodge all of it. Not even a scratch.

"Leave the kid alone, Mizuki!" Iruka-sensei says. "I will be your opponent." He looks at me. "Naruto, go. Take the scroll. I will take it from here."

I hesitate for a moment. Iruka-sensei might not match against Mizuki's skills. And I don't ever want him to get hurt badly.

"NOW, NARUTO!" Iruka-sensei yells and I have no choice but to take off, running into the woods with the scroll of seals strapped to my back.

Iruka Umino:

I watch as Naruto runs off. And I do hope that Minashi would finish her mission soon. I might not hold for long against Mizuki. There's no telling what the traitor can really do.

"Tsk! Tsk!" Mizuki says, shaking his head in disapproval. "It's a pity, really. I found you to be quite an interesting fellow. I planned to kill you later for old time's sake but now, I just changed my mind."

"I will not let you have the scroll, Mizuki." I tell him. "Nor harm Naruto."

He suddenly cracks up, leaving me quite puzzled at his sudden outburst. "Wow!" He exclaims, now smirking. "You? Protecting the person whom you should hate? How touching." He says the last word sarcastically.

"He's just a kid, Mizuki." I say. "And besides, he did not kill my parents."

"Yes. But that thing in him did." He replies. "Which kind of makes him the killer too. You know.. since the demon that killed your parents is kept alive because it is inside him."

"No matter what you say, Mizuki." I tell him. "You will not convince me to side with you."

"Your loyalty to your village will be the death of you." He states, looking a bit irked that he had not convinced me. "Do you really think you can best me, Iruka? I'm giving you a chance here. A chance to live."

"My loyalty is to Konoha." I state with finality. "If I die, then so be it. Besides, I am not the only ninja in this village. There are many more who are far greater. You will be defeated."

"Far greater?!" Mizuki says, looking quite amused. "I've been snooping around your village for three whole months and none of your ninjas were able to catch me."

Then, he takes two kunais from his weapon pouch and let's each hand hold one. "Well, since I can't convince you, we should get on with the fighting." He says.

I do the same thing, taking my own kunais from my weapon pouch. Then, without warning, he slashes at me so fast that all I can see is a blur. But my speed matches to his own and I manage to block a slash that's aimed to cut my neck.

"Tch!" He glares at me before distancing himself by leaping away. "You're fast."

I don't say anything and just keep myself focused at him.

"Can you dodge this?!" He yells before launching the second giant shuriken from his back.

My eyes widen but I am able to dodge the said shuriken by stepping a bit to the right.

"Wow." Mizuki says, clapping his hands and nodding approvingly. But then he smirks. "Or maybe not."

My eyes widen when I feel something huge pierce my back. I gasp, feeling the pain that I now feel from that spot but I find out that I can't breathe. It must have pierced through my lungs. I fall to my knees and try to catch my breath but I end up coughing out blood instead. Lots of it.

I hear Mizuki chuckle and say something. But I don't pay attention and I pull out the shuriken from my back. With the last of my strength, I throw the shuriken at Mizuki, hoping that it would at least leave a scratch on him. But he dodges it with ease and my hope of injuring him comes to a halt.

Mizuki:

I smirk as I watch Iruka crawl to a tree and lean himself there. He gasps for air and I can tell that he's not getting any.

Weapon Manipulation is the technique that I have mastered. I am able to change a weapon's direction as long as I am able to flow my chakra into it. It's quite handy at times.

"Such a pity." I say, shaking my head in amusement. "Sacrificing your own life to protect a demon. I really had no quarrel with you."

"Well, then." I add. "To show you that I have no form of resentment, I'll end your life quickly."

I take one kunai from my weapon pouch and throw it at him, aiming for his heart. I know it would kill him in an instant.

I turn away, readying myself to leap away and chase after Naruto.

"Leaving so soon, Mizuki?" I suddenly hear someone say. My eyes widen and I turn back around so fast that I almost tripped.

I am met by a sight that I least expect to be here - A certain lazy red-head from my class.

"Minashi?" I ask out of surprise.

She holds up something for me to see, swinging it to and fro. "This yours?" She asks.

My eyes widen once I realize it's the kunai that I threw at Iruka. I immediately look at the injured Iruka who's still leaning on the tree. He's unconscious now. Or maybe dead. Either way, it doesn't really matter.

"He's fine." Minashi suddenly says. "The little trick with your weapon? It did not work."

Just after she says that, Iruka explodes into a puff of smoke and soon I see that a log had taken his place. Kawarimi?! I can't believe I fell for that!

Then, Iruka and Naruto both come out from the darkness of the woods, taking their place beside Minashi.

"You're late, Minashi." Naruto says, looking at Minashi in an accusing manner.

"Sorry, Brother." Minashi replies, unperturbed by the way her brother is looking at her. "Got a little sidetracked."

"Well, a take it you've finished the job then?" Naruto asks, unstrapping the scroll of seals from his back and handing it to Iruka. "Would you mind holding this for a minute, Iruka-sensei?"

With a nod, Iruka takes the scroll from Naruto and seats himself on an overgrown root of a tree not too far from him.

"Yeah." Minashi says. "Easy as pie."

"Good." Naruto says. "Now let's just get this over with. I want to go home and eat."

"Very well." Minashi replies and they both turn to me.

"Well.. well." I say with a smirk. "You kids are quite brave to stand against me. Did Iruka tell you to fight against me as your final examination?"

"Actually, no." Minashi answers.

"Minashi and I have been observing you, Mizuki." Naruto says. "We suspected that you are responsible of the stolen scrolls. And you better get ready." He adds, taking a fighting stance. "Because Minashi and I will kick your butt!"

I laugh at his little threat. "You're kidding me, right?" I ask. "I can kill children like you two with a single move!"

"Maybe. Or maybe not." Minashi says nonchalantly. "That depends upon your skills, Mizuki. If you truly are as skilled as you claim to be, then you just might. Although I doubt that."

"Tch!" I can't help but clench my fists, irked by what she said. She usually wasn't this annoying. "Oh really? Let's have a go then. See if you can match against me."

Third Person:

The traitor throws unending shurikens and kunais at both Naruto and Minashi. However, in a second, Minashi is instantly in front of Naruto.

Golden chains that are made of chakra sprouts from Minashi's back. On the tip of each chain, blades of the same color and are adorned with black swirls, are attached.

Then, without wasting time, Minashi manipulates each of her chains to block each and every weapon that Mizuki throws at them, even the manipulated ones, letting nothing come through. All weapons fall to the ground, harmless.

Seeing what is happening, Mizuki's eyes widen and he fuels himself to launch even more weapons at the Duo. However, it did not make much of a difference.

"Watch this, Sis. You'll be impressed" Naruto says, forming both hands into a hand sign that seems familiar to Minashi. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The whole area puffs into smoke, making Mizuki stop what he's doing and cough a few times. He then narrows his eyes, trying to see through the smoke. But then his eyes widen and fear seems to take over his whole body once he sees what's in front of him and all around him: hundreds of Naruto's clones that are all ready to beat him up.

"Impressive." Minashi says, giving an approving look towards her brother. "You've learned the Kage Bunshin."

Feeling happy with Minashi's praise, Naruto turns to Mizuki, smirking. "So what will it be, Mizuki?" He asks. "The easy way? Or the hard way?"

"Idiots!" Mizuki yells, trembling anger. He knows now that he has lost. "Even if you capture me, my comrades will leave your village and sell the scrolls to your enemies!"

"You mean those two idiots I found hiding in the abandoned Uchiha compound?" Minashi asks.

This makes Mizuki pause. "You're lying. There is no way they could have been found." He says mostly to himself. "They can mask their chakra very well."

"Yeah well, I don't need their chakra to find them." Minashi says. "Seriously, they are hiding in a place where no one is supposed to be. Who wouldn't suspect anything?"

"No.." Mizuki says angrily. "We cannot be defeated!"

He tries to leap away. But one of Minashi's chains circle his foot and flings him back to the ground.

He groans in pain before looking up to the twins in fear and a thought crosses his mind: a story that he used to hear from his fellow criminals. A story about two fearless and mysterious ninjas of Konoha that his fellow criminals fear. They were said to be very strong when they are teamed up together. So strong that they might match against a dozen or two of chunin ranked ninjas.

Only few were able to survive their onslaught. But those who do would come to fear them. It is said that one with red hair wields the power over chains and excels in detection. The other who has blonde hair, relies on speed and enormous chakra reserves. They are called the Lethal Duo.

Just as Naruto's clones rain down on Mizuki, only one thought is fixed in his mind: Naruto and Minashi are the Lethal Duo.

Minashi Namikaze:

I sweat-drop at the twitching Mizuki before me. "I think you over did it." I say as I turn to my brother.

He scratches his head. "I think I just did." He replies before slowly turning to me. "But did you see that?!" He exclaims, now wearing a huge grin on his face. "I was so COOL!!"

I can't help but sigh and deadpan as Naruto starts to glorify himself to Iruka-sensei, who in turn praises him even more.

I turn away from them and turn to the unconscious Mizuki. He won't be waking up soon. But just to make sure, I unseal a rope from the mini scroll that I keep with me and tie up Mizuki's arms and legs.

Once done, I turn back to Naruto and Iruka-sensei. "Naruto, stop your endless ranting and get over here." I call to my brother.

He stops talking but glares at me all the while walking to me. I, however, just ignore his glare.

"What now, Minashi?" He asks in a bitter tone.

"Keep an eye on Mizuki." I tell him. "I'll scan the forest for people. Perhaps there might be more of Mizuki's comrades."

"Geez. It's not like he'll move anytime soon anyway." Naruto complains.

"Just do what I say." I state before taking off into the forest.

In no time, I finish scanning the forest. There are no suspicious characters so far. So, I return to where I left Naruto and Iruka-sensei.

"Finally!" Naruto immediately says once I jump from one last tree branch and land just near them. "You were almost gone for an hour. And I'm really hungry." The sound of his growling stomach proves his point.

I sigh. "We still need to wait for Ibiki." I tell him. "He'll take Mizuki to jail."

Naruto groans, making sure he makes it loud so I can hear. "Oh come on!" He whines. "Can't we just go?"

"No." I state.

"But whyyyyyyy?" He complains yet again.

"Because capturing Mizuki is our mission." I tell him. "It is only right that we pass Mizuki to Ibiki ourselves."

"You and your formalities." He grumbles as he sits on a rock. "And what about using Transportation seal?"

"Ibiki-sensei already said he'd come." I tell my brother. "We can't let him come here for nothing. It would be an insult on his part."

Naruto sighs. "Got any food there at least?" He asks, turning to me.

I toss him one of my mini scrolls to which he catches easily but then turns to me in a questioning manner. "What's this?" He asks.

"Food's inside." I say and he immediately grins, dropping his grumpy behavior as he unseals the contents of the scroll.

A puff of smoke erupts from the scroll once my brother does the right unsealing hand signs and says, "Unseal."

"Ramen!" Naruto exclaims and in no time, he is slurping the said food with a happy look on his face. I smile. I love it when he gets excited over such small things. What can I say? He's my brother. And I love him very much.

"Say, Iruka-sensei.." My brother says. ".. can I come over the classroom when you assign the teams?"

"Ahhh.. why?"

"Because he wants to make our classmates see that he is not who they think he is." I answer for my brother.

He gives a playful glare. "Hey! I know you want to do it too." He exclaims. "Think of the looks on their faces. They would be so surprised."

I sigh. "Well, yes. It would be fun to see how they react." I turn to Iruka-sensei.

"Well, as long as no one is getting hurt, then okay." Iruka replies with a closed-eye smile.

"Yes!!" Naruto jumps up and down in a repeated manner, clearly excited for tomorrow's events. "You're the best, Iruka-sensei! Believe it!"

"You're just saying that because I agreed to something you want to happen."

"No I'm not. You are clearly the best."

I just watch as Naruto and Iruka converse. After a while, I sense someone approaching and I sigh. Finally!

"Well, someone was busy." Ibiki-sensei, the said person says, now smirking and looking at the tied up traitor.

"And someone took the long way to get here." I tell him. "You're a bit late, Ibiki-sensei."

He scowls. "It's not my fault there are so many people to interrogate." He defends.

I smile. "I know." I say. "You're always so busy nowadays. Thanks for doing this favor despite your busy schedule. I just hate going to that place. The prison, I mean."

He nods. "It's nothing." He tells us. "Just looking out for my favorite students."

I roll my eyes in a good-natured manner. "You don't have any other students." I state.

"Whatever." He says as he carries the unconscious Mizuki on his shoulder without even struggling. "I'm leaving now."

And just like that, he disappears into a puff of smoke, taking Mizuki with him. He did not even say goodbye. Same old Ibiki-sensei.

I then turn back to Naruto and Iruka with a smile. "Let's go home."

And with that, we go home.

What do you think of the second chapter?

Up next on The Lethal Duo, Chapter 3: Unexpected Mission.


	3. Chapter 3: Unexpected Mission

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. :-) But I sure love it! _

Iruka Umino:

I had started the team assignments a while ago and now, I'm wondering if Minashi and Naruto would come as they said they would last night. It's not a surprise if they're already on a mission though. They are indeed strong ninjas of this village and Hokage-sama relies on them to get things done.

"Team seven!" I announce. "Sasuke Uchiha! Sa--"

I am cut off when I hear three slow knocks on the already open door. I turn and I see Naruto leaning on the door frame, smiling calmly. "Good morning, Iruka-sensei."

"Naruto-san, you came." I tell him with a slight bow and he does the same. Their mission is officially over now and Naruto is on the same rank as me. It is only right to treat him as such. "I thought you would not come."

He just gives me a smile and then turns to the whole class. Now that I am paying attention to them, I just noticed that the whole classroom is quiet. Some of my pupils are gaping and some show disbelief. However, I am not surprised by their reactions.

Naruto looks a whole lot different. So different that you would not believe that he is the same Naruto who came to this school these past few months.

Instead of wearing the goggles and orange clothing he usually wears in school, he has his head protector tied to his forehead and he is wearing a gray T-shirt and a black jacket with gray flame-like designs on it.

For his lower, a simple black trouser with scrolls strapped on each side of his thighs. Then for his footwear, black ninja sandals with gray flame-like markings that match his jacket.

Other than that, Naruto also looks taller since Minashi must have undone the illusion that she casted on Naruto for him to look shorter than her. But now, Naruto might be three or two inches taller than Minashi.

"What's the matter?" Naruto asks calmly. "You guys seem silent."

"Is this some kind of joke?" Kiba is the one to speak up, smirking amusedly. "No offense but even though you're wearing that, you'll still be the same stupid Naruto that we all know!"

Akamaru barks along in agreement to his master and the whole class laughs except for those who are smart enough to do such a thing.

"Kiba.." I scold him in a warning tone. "Show some respect!"

"Respect?" Ino is the one to say as she stands. "He doesn't deserve any, Iruka-sensei. At least based on all the things he has done."

I am about to reprimand Ino when I see Naruto gesture me to stop. "It is alright, Iruka-sensei." He tells me. "I am used to hearing insults from the likes of them."

"What's that supposed to mean, dumbass?" Kiba says, looking irked. Akamaru also growls lightly at Naruto.

"Really?" Naruto says, rolling his eyes and them smirking. "You say I'm a dumbass and yet you do not understand what I said. Now who's the dumbass?"

I could hear snickers from the boys and Kiba bares his teeth in anger. "You wanna go right now?!!" He yells as he makes his way to Naruto, clearly picking a fight with him. Akamaru follows him closely behind.

Me, being the teacher, move so I can stop Kiba. I know very well that he would not match against Naruto. His skills are not even one-fourth of what Naruto can do.

But then, in a second, I see a flash of red and Minashi is instantly in front of Kiba, blocking the Inuzuka's way. I did not even notice her enter the classroom. But I'm glad she's here now. I've got to admit she's a better fight preventer than I am. And what surprised me is that she has Akamaru in her arms.

"Minashi?" Kiba can't help but ask as he looks at Minashi, surprise etch on his face. "Is that you? You look different."

I'd say different is an understatement. In the academy, Minashi mimicked the actions of a lazy girl who doesn't seem to have time to groom herself nor have any reasons to care about anything. Now, she looks so smart and full of authority. Her movements seem like it's all calculated. And the way she looks at you calmly would only add up to her admirable coolness.

For her clothing, she wears a red sleeveless tunic and then black shorts that stops halfway down her thighs; at the hem of her shorts, scrolls are strapped tightly. Her red hair is tied into a loose braid with her head protector placed on her head like a headband.

"I suggest you go back to your seat, Inuzuka." Minashi states calmly but the killing intent she releases into the atmosphere is so strong that it sends chills down my spine. "I don't take it lightly when someone looks down on my brother."

"Whoaw.." Kiba says, backing away a bit. I can tell that he feels it too - Minashi's killing intent. He just doesn't know what it is. "He started it!" Kiba defends himself, pointing to Naruto in an accusing way. "That blockhead called me a dumbass!"

"Call my brother any more names and I'll make you regret it." Minashi threatens, making Kiba gulp and take a step back.

Akamaru immediately growls in Minashi's arms, baring his teeth at Minashi. "Heh.." Kiba says, smirking. "Threaten me and Akamaru might just bite you."

Minashi, however, ignores Kiba and smiles at the small ninja hound. "I understand your loyalty to your master." She says, petting Akamaru's head gently despite the fact that he's still growling at her. "Then you must surely understand why I threatened Kiba."

This makes Akamaru stop growling and look at Minashi in a confused manner. Minashi sighs. "You and I are the same, Akamaru." She says. "We are only protecting the ones whom we hold dear. Don't you think so?"

Akamaru barks in agreement to Minashi and begins wagging his tail, clearly liking Minashi now. I just remain silent the whole time even though I'm quite amazed by how Minashi managed to befriend Akamaru in mere seconds.

"What the!" Kiba exclaims in disbelief. "Akamaru?!"

Minashi turns to him. "Just go back to your seat, Kiba-san." She says with a smile, gently handing him Akamaru. "Akamaru's a great companion. Take good care of him."

"O-okay.." Kiba says, seating himself on his desk. Though it's quite clear that he's still surprised.

Now, I sigh in relief and find this as the perfect opportunity to introduce Naruto and Minashi to the class. "Everyone, Minashi-san and Naruto-san are not true students of the academy." I announce. "They are both ninja of high rank, assigned to work undercover and expose a traitor among the teachers"

I can hear murmurs from the whole classroom. Most students don't believe the things I had said.

"I can see that most of you don't believe it." Minashi says.

"Of course we don't." Ino is the one to stand. "The info might have come from Iruka-sensei but you and Naruto don't seem like you're high in rank."

"It matters not, Ino-san." Minashi replies. "Whether you believe or not is entirely up to you. We will not force you."

"But anyway, we'll just introduce ourselves." Naruto is the one to say. "You all know me as Naruto and my sister as Minashi. But our surname is not Uzumaki. Its Namikaze."

"What?!" Sakura exclaims, standing up. But soon she regrets it when she remembers that Minashi is quite intimidating. "S-sorry.."

"It's alright, Sakura." Minashi says. "You were going to ask us something?"

"Y-your surname.." Sakura says. "Namikaze is t-the surname of our f-former fourth hokage. Are you related to him?"

"We are his children, Sakura." Naruto is the one to answer. "Our father is the fourth hokage."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT????!!!!!" The whole class erupts into shouts of disbelief.

Minashi chuckles. "It might not look like it, but we are." She says. "Believe it or not."

"But how come none of us know that?" Ino asks again. "If you really are the children of the fourth hokage, then how come none of us have heard of you. It must've been announced or something. It's just suspicious."

"Ino-dear.." Minashi says. "That story is for another time. If we have any." She chuckles when the whole class let's out a sound of disappointment. "For now, we need to go. The third Hokage is expecting us."

I then see Sasuke suddenly stand up and make his way to the front. Why? I have no idea.

He stops not too far from Minashi and Naruto, glaring at the blonde bitterly. "Fight me, Naruto." He states. "Show me your strength."

"Sasuke, you are in no position to challenge Naruto-san." I immediately tell him. "Go back to your seat."

"Mind your own business." He utters rudely. "I am going to defeat him!"

I turn to Minashi but I see she's not doing anything. She just stares at Sasuke calmly.

"Sasuke, I'd really love to accept." Naruto says, turning to Sasuke with a grin. "But I don't engage in needless battles. Besides, Minashi and I are gonna be late so w--"

"You're just saying that because you're a coward!" Sasuke yells, cutting Naruto off. I decide to remain silent even though his words are going too far. He'll just tell me to shut up anyway. "You are weak!"

"Strength is not determined by how many battles you fight, Sasuke." Naruto states. "Sometimes being strong means being able to know which battles must be fought and to choose how you make it end."

"I don't care." Sasuke says. "Just fight me."

"You don't get it, do you?" Naruto says. "I. Don't. Want. To. Fight. You. Get it?"

Just as Sasuke takes a fighting stance, Minashi finally steps in between him and Naruto. Sasuke's determination to fight Naruto wavers a bit before he glares at Minashi.

"Get out of my way, Minashi!" Sasuke yells. "I want to fight Naruto!"

"As fun as this may be, we are needed elsewhere." Minashi says. "Somewhere more important than this little challenge of yours.

"This will only take a minute." Sasuke insists. "I will defeat your brother before that." He adds in an overconfident tone.

Minashi Namikaze:

Such a typical Uchiha. I resist the urge to roll my eyes at Sasuke's arrogance. He really thinks he's better than Naruto when he's not even half of what my brother is.

"Oh believe me, Uchiha.." I say with a smirk. "When I say, you would not last ten seconds against my brother."

This seems to anger him. And he immediately dashes past me. I just sigh and roll my eyes this time, letting him be. I know Naruto can handle him without my help. Besides, I already warned Sasuke and yet he chose not to listen to me. His own fault, really.

I close my eyes to sense what's about to happen. True enough, Naruto counters Sasuke's punch with a backhand. Naruto then grabs hold on Sasuke's arm and flings him to the wall, Sasuke's back hitting the wall with a loud thud. Before Sasuke could recover, Naruto unseals four kunais that are all linked together by a chain.

Then, with high accuracy, Naruto throws all four kunais at Sasuke. One kunai pierces the wall just above Sasuke's right shoulder and another above Sasuke's left shoulder. The other two kunais pierce the wall beside Sasuke's left and right hip. The chain attached to the kunais forms an X on Sasuke's chest and successfully pins him to the wall.

"The hell!" Sasuke yells as he struggles to set himself free but to no avail.

"Just stop, Sasuke." Naruto says. "That's enough! You will only get hurt."

"Coward!" Sasuke yells. "Using weapons to win! You call that fighting?!"

"That is what it's like in the real world, Sasuke." Naruto states, shutting up the raven-haired Uchiha. "In a serious fight, survival can only be obtained if you learn to play by the enemy's rules. Which has only one rule actually - Never play fair."

"It is all about who gets the upper hand." I add, turning to Naruto and Sasuke. "No matter what the cost." I smile. "Well, at least that's how some enemies play it. We just reciprocate what they do to us."

Once I sense Sasuke's chakra calm down, I reseal the weapons that kept him pinned to the wall. "You still have a long way to go, Sasuke." I tell him. "Just train hard. You'll get there."

"Don't talk like you know everything about me." He says in a rude tone. "You know nothing about me!"

"Hey that's enough, Sasuke." Naruto tells him off. "My sister is only trying to cheer you up. You should be thankful."

Naruto and Sasuke exchange words but I don't pay attention. I just stare at Sasuke as he continues to yell at my brother. It's sad, really. He loathes Itachi without knowing the real reason as to why Itachi massacred his whole clan. I may not know you, Sasuke. But I knew your brother and I know the pain he felt on that day.

"Naruto and I will be leaving now." I interrupt them. "We have other things to do." I turn to Iruka-sensei and wave at him. "Goodbye, Iruka-sensei. Thanks for letting us drop by."

I then grab Naruto's arm and drag him out the classroom. Once we're outside, and are out of hearing range, I sigh. "Well that went well." I mutter.

"I think it was fun." My brother replies, grinning. "Did you see the looks on their faces when we told them we're Dad's children?" The grin on his face not faltering. It would seem he really did enjoy it.

"I meant what happened with Sasuke." I reply.

"Nah.." Naruto says, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "He'll get over it. Loosen up, Sis."

I roll my eyes. "Always so optimistic." I say. "But I guess it was worth it."

"That's my sister." Naruto say. "Now, race yah to the hokage tower?" He challenges, readying himself to run.

"Sure" I smirk as I also ready myself. "Last one gets to treat the winner to ramen!"

"You betcha."

Hiruzen Sarutobi:

I huff smoke from my pipe and then look at the piled papers scattered all around my office. There's still so much to do and less time to do it. Long ago, I would finish everything quickly so I would have free time to spare. But now, I guess I'm just getting old.

The door suddenly slams open, startling me. I almost dropped my pipe during the process. I then sigh once I recover and look at the people who just entered - Naruto and Minashi.

They are both sweating so much but are not out of breath at all. "Looks like I won this one, Brother." Minashi says, smirking at Naruto. "Ramen's on you."

"Hey! No fair!" Naruto retorts, glaring at Minashi. "I tripped on a banana peeling! I could've won!"

"Of course you would have." Minashi replies, reaching out and ruffling Naruto's hair. "You're faster than me, there's no doubt about that. But I guess lucks on my side today."

"Fine." Naruto says, sighing. "Ramen's on me then."

After their little conversation, both Naruto and Minashi turn to me. Naruto winks. "Hey Gramps!"

"Another race, I presume?" I ask them although I already know the answer to that question.

"Yeah.." Naruto replies with a huge grin on his face. "It's quite fun. And it helps with improving our speed."

I smile at him. "And you're unusually cheerful today, Naruto?" I ask the energetic blonde. "You're usually grumpy during mornings due to Minashi ruining your precious sleep."

"He woke up by himself today." Minashi answers, crossing her arms. "He was excited to reveal our true identity to our classmates."

"I see." I nod. "How'd it go, then?"

"You should have seen their faces, Gramps!" Naruto chuckles. "They were so shocked to know that we are the fourth hokage's children. It's just so funny."

I chuckle. "Well, that's expected." I say. "After all, you played your role well."

"Not just me." Naruto says, wrapping his arm around Minashi's waist. These twins are so close that people who don't know they're siblings would mistake them for lovers. "Minashi also did a good job."

"Of course I did." Minashi says, rolling her eyes and smirking playfully. "I'm not even gonna enumerate the things I did last night."

Naruto rolls his eyes. "Hey.. I was the one who bought you time to get rid of Mizuki's comrades." He says.

"That, you did." Minashi smiles. "Now, let's just ask for a mission. We're wasting Gramp's time." She turns to me and so does Naruto.

I take out a scroll with all the listed B-ranked missions. "I've already assigned a mission for you, Children." I tell them.

"You did?" Naruto says with a pout. "But it was my turn to choose." He whines in a childlike way.

I sigh. "Well, I'm sorry but I find that you and Minashi are the ones fitting for this mission." I explain.

"Oh alright." Naruto says in a begrudging manner. "I guess it's okay."

"Naruto.." Minashi says in a warning tone, raising an eyebrow at Naruto. "Mind your tone. You are talking to our Hokage."

"Yeah. I know." Naruto says, sighing. "So, what's the mission, Gramps?" He asks, this time with eagerness.

"It's a protect and escort type." I reply, looking over the right file.

"Who're we escorting?!" Naruto exclaims, his eyes twinkling with excitement. "An enchantress?! A beautiful woman?! A princess?!" He grins from ear to ear.

I chuckle, amused by his actions. "Now.. now.." I say. "Don't get too excited, Child."

"Who?! Who?!" He exclaims yet again.

"Naruto, just listen to Gramps, would you?" Minashi tells him, grabbing a hold on his shoulder and squeezing it.

"Fine." Naruto huffs but then settles down.

"You will be escorting Frost Akuma." I tell them. "He is the prince of the Land of Snow. And I also happen to be his godfather."

"A prince?!" Naruto says, shoulders drooping and disappointment evident on his expression. "I was hoping it was a girl, believe it."

"Now.. now.." I chuckle. "Don't be disappointed. He's around your age and once you get to know him more, you'll find he's quite interesting."

"I'm sure we'll get along just fine, Gramps." Minashi says.

I nod. "Send in the Prince." I command whoever is assigned outside the office.

Minashi Namikaze:

The door opens and someone enters - a boy that's just about our age. His hair is black and it is long, reaching up to his back. He currently has it tied into a loose ponytail.

His eyes are emerald green in color but I also notice how it glows in a slightly visible, golden color whenever light pierces them. His eyelashes are quite long and the expression he wears is that of seriousness.

His composure fits that of his title - a prince, as he stands firmly and confidently. For his clothes, he is wearing a blue kimono that's coupled with black loose pants and some sort of wooden sandals. Then, his right hand is wrapped with bandages. Perhaps it's in their culture to wear such things.

"Prince Frost." I say as both Naruto and I, bow our heads to show respect.

"Frost, I would like you to meet your escorts: Naruto and Minashi." Gramps says. "I believe it is up to you to fill them in on the mission details?"

"I've got to admit, when you said escorts I expected someone skilled, Godfather." The prince comments as he looks at me and my brother from head to toe. His voice is husky, similar to Sasuke's, but a bit higher in pitch. "Not children who are more or less the same age as I am."

"Whoaw.. Don't just go around judging everyone by the way they look." Naruto says, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. I can tell he's pissed. "We may be young, but we are no children either."

"There really is no need for you to have me escorted, Godfather." The Prince says, completely ignoring my brother. "I'll be fine, really."

"How insolent." Naruto grumbles angrily. I just gesture him to stop grumbling and then pay attention to the conversation.

"No. I must insist, Frost." Gramps tells Frost. "What would King Mashisa do to me if he finds out his son is not treated well."

I keep myself silent as Gramps and Frost converse. I observe Frost's actions. I can tell that he's trying to hide something. His movements are tense and his smile is forced. As if he doesn't want anyone to be dragged into whatever mess he's in.

Gramps must've noticed it too. And being the Godfather, he knows he cannot leave Frost all by himself. Judging upon Gramps's course of action, he believes the situation is dire. And that's where Naruto and I come in.

"Very well, Godfather." Frost says begrudgingly, smiling that forced smile once again. "I will take the escorts."

"Splendid!" Gramps says, smiling. Then he turns to Naruto and me. "Are you all packed?"

"We are always ready for missions outside the village, Gramps!" Naruto exclaims.

"Good, then." Gramps says. "You shall leave as soon as you can. Frost will tell you the details of the mission while you're on your way."

"Very well." I say and then turn to my brother. "Before we go, I'd like you to take the Prince shopping for some clothes."

"Is there something wrong with what I am wearing, commoner?" Frost asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

I completely ignore the name that he just called me and just turn to him. "Your highness, I respect the reason why you have to wear a kimono." I tell him. "But since we will be travelling, it would be a risk to have you stand out among us. Please, do not misunderstand."

"I believe Minashi is right, Frost." Gramps says, smiling at the said Prince. "You should get some new clothing."

Frost sighs. "Very well, Godfather."

Naruto leads Frost out of the office and once I sense they are far enough, I turn to Gramps. "What's the Prince's situation, Hokage-sama?"

"Observant as ever, Minashi." He says. "You were able to know that he's hiding something. But I'm afraid I do not know what it is." He adds seriously. "He would not tell me anything."

"I see." I reply. "But, why is he here anyway? He's a little far away from home, don't you think?"

"His father, King Mashisa Akuma, is a friend of mine. About twelve years ago, he entrusted to me half of an ancient amulet." Gramps says. "Though the amulet looks like an ordinary one, it's said that it contains power that can only affect those of Royal Blood in the Akuma Clan."

"And Frost is here to take it back." I state. "But why? And why did he come alone if he is the prince? Shouldn't there be bodyguards?"

"That is the mystery, Minashi." Gramps says. "It might be too much to send you on a mission without a full background. Bu--"

"We'll do it, Hokage-sama" I cut him off. "Whatever Frost is hiding, we will figure it out and help him through it."

Gramps smiles. "I'll be counting on you, then. I owe Mashisa too many depts. It's time I repay him little by little."

I nod. "Well then. I will take my leave, Hokage-sama." I tell him. "We'll start the mission immediately."

"Oh, and Frost might be a little hard to handle at times. He has changed a lot since the last time I saw him." Gramps says with a smile. "Even I had a hard time trying to convince him to take escorts."

"I don't know what he's like in the past." I say. "But I believe he has not changed. He's just trying to protect Naruto and I. Or more like he doesn't want to involve us in the trouble he's in. That's why he had said the things he did."

"Minashi, your observation skills are excellent." Gramps praises. "I will count on you to handle things on your journey."

"I will."

Naruto Namikaze:

"I'm bored." I can't help but voice myself out.

We've been walking for hours and hours already. If the prince weren't with us, Minashi and I would have made it to the docks by now. But unfortunately, it's him that we are escorting so complaining is not an option.

Anyways, I'm glad the Prince is not wearing the kimono anymore. It's for his own safety, anyway. And I personally picked the clothing that he is wearing now: a sky-blue T-shirt with black swirls adorning it and black, loose, ninja trousers. As for his footwear, I chose dark-blue ninja sandals.

I couldn't get him to remove the bandages that cover his right hand though; despite the fact that I insisted because I knew it would ruin the style. He's just really stubborn. Even more than I am.

"Hey, Prince!" I call to him, making him turn to me in an annoyingly graceful manner. "How far is your home?"

"Complaining already, Commoner?" Frost says with an arrogant smirk. "You shouldn't have come if you're only gonna complain."

"That's it!" I spat angrily, glaring at him. "I've had enough of your crappy attitude! You think you're so great because you're a prince?! Well you're not! I bet you can't even defend yourself, right?!"

He see him look at me hatefully before looking away and staying silent.

"So what now?!" I yell. "You're not gonna say anything?!"

"Naruto, that's enough!" Minashi commands and I turn to her. "Go over there and cool off. You've said enough." She says, pointing to the woods. "Come back when you're alright to travel with Prince Frost."

I scoff, glaring at the Prince one more time before leaping into the forest. "Oh and be on you guard!" I hear Minashi shout on the last second.

Minashi Namikaze:

I wait till Naruto leaves before turning to Frost. "I'm sure my brother will be alright soon, Your Highness." I tell him politely, resisting the urge to side with my brother. I have to be patient. "Please forgive the harsh words that he had said. I'm sure he did not mean it."

"He better be fast." Frost says in a rude tone. "He is wasting time."

"It would seem you are in a hurry." I say. "Why?"

"It's none of your business!" He says in a slightly risen tone. "Your job is to escort me! So just do it and then leave!"

He maintains a hardened front but I can sense all the emotions that he is emitting. One that is most clear is fear. "You are afraid." I state surely.

"Afraid?" He scoffs, looking amused. "You're being delusional. A prince is never afraid!"

"And yet you are, Frost." I tell him. He opens his mouth to say something but I cut him off. "You can deny it all you want but I know I'm right. You cannot hide all your troubles forever, Your Highness."

"It matters not." He says seriously. "You are not obligated to help me and there is no reason to get you involved in my kingdom's problems." He then points himself. "I am Frost Akuma, the prince and the only heir to the Kingdom of Snow. And my kingdom is my responsibility, alone."

"Yes, you are the prince." I tell him just as seriously. I can't help it. His idea of being prince is all wrong. "But that doesn't mean that you have to shoulder each and every problem your kingdom encounters. A good prince knows when to ask for help from his allies so that he can protect his kingdom."

Just after I say that, I turn away from him. I don't want to lose my patience just talking some sense into him. I'll just let him be for now.

"Your brother is right." Frost suddenly says, getting my attention. "I am nothing but a useless prince. I failed to do so many things. I've done things that are wrong. But at least now, the only right thing I can do is make you go back to your village."

"And what makes you think it's the right thing to do?" I ask him.

"Because that way you won't have to die!" He yells angrily.

'It's just as I thought.' I can't help but think. The mess he's in, is a matter of life and death. No wonder he's trying his best to hide it. However, despite the things I'm thinking, I listen on to what he has to say.

"Can't you see?!" He continues. "I am trying to get rid of you! I am trying to make you hate me so you would leave me behind! So you would go back." He pauses. "Just.. leave."

"No." I state, making him turn to me, his face contorted in anger. "No matter how much you try to push me and my brother away, we are staying."

He bares his teeth angrily. "You don't under--"

"It's you who doesn't understand!" I say in a risen tone, stopping him from saying anything. "Naruto and I, we are your allies. The only ones whom you can trust as of now. And yet you are pushing us away, treating us like we are only in your way! Remember this, Frost. When it's too late, you will regret it."

I look at Frost direly, hoping that he would at least listen to what I had said. If he doesn't, then there is nothing more I can do about it.

"I'm baaaack!" I hear Naruto shout as he emerges from the forest. "And I'm alright now. Let's get on with the journey." He adds with a huge grin on his face.

I smile at Naruto, forgetting about the argument that Frost and I had. I should give him time. Perhaps he might open up to us. Perhaps.

And so, we continue the journey. I take the lead, with Frost following right behind me and then Naruto is at the rear. A few minutes pass by and nobody says anything.

Frost Akuma:

Remember this, Frost. When it's too late, you will regret it. Those words keep on playing in my mind. It makes me doubt the things I'm doing. And it's irritating me to no end.

Not once have I doubted my decisions. It is one of the attributes that make me worthy, being the prince. I always look over the consequences before making a decision and because of that, I come up with the best option there is.

Before I came to Konoha, I did a lot of thinking. I weighed each and every possibility that I might encounter. And the best option I can come up with is to never let anyone interfere with the things I'm doing. It's for the best. Not only for me but also for the people who are willing to help me.

Suddenly, I feel Minashi grab my wrist and wrench me to her side. Then, I hear the sound of metal hitting metal ring through the air. I don't know what just happened. It was too fast for me to comprehend.

All I know is that now, Minashi is standing in front of me in a protective manner; golden chains with blades attached to each tip, dancing all around her. But the thing that confuses me is that Minashi is facing Naruto, ready to attack him anytime and Naruto is also doing a fighting stance, glaring at Minashi. What is going on?

"What are you doing, Minashi?" I can't help but ask. "He's your brother."

"He is not my brother." Minashi answers me, only making me even more confused.

"You think I haven't noticed?" Minashi asks Naruto and I decide to remain silent. Whatever is happening now, I don't think I get it. Perhaps a sibling duel or something.

"Heheh." Naruto says, smirking. "You're good, Girl." And then, he explodes into smoke.

Once the smoke clears, my eyes widen when I see a man standing there. I don't know him. In fact, I haven't seen him before.

The man seems to be more or less twenty years old. His hair is dark brown in color, coupled with black irises. His appearance seems ragged, telling me that this man is always on the move.

He is wearing a dirty, loose jacket with the front opened so as to display his chest and abdomen. Pairing that, he wears a black, ninja trouser that stops just below his knee. Bandages then cover the remaining part of his uncovered legs. And then, for his footwear, worn out ninja sandals.

A weapon pouch is attached to his belt and is placed on his right hip. Weapon holders are strapped to his each side of his thighs. As for his head protector, I see none. He's probably a mercenary.

"Makito Tamari." Minashi says, the golden chains retracting to her back until they are completely gone. "Number 57 of the C-ranked criminals listed in the bingo book."

"Well, you are well informed. For a girl." This said Makito says, smirk not faltering from his lips.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Minashi asks in a casual manner, as if she is not talking to an enemy. "You must be here for a reason, right?"

"Well, yes." Makito says. "Just hand over the Prince." He gestures to me, making my eyes widen. Me? "And no harm will come to you."

Minashi chuckles. "I don't think so." She says, readying herself to fight. "Prince Frost is under my protection and I will be his shield until he is safely returned to his home."

"Very well." Makito replies, also readying himself. "I was itching for a fight anyway. I do hope you'll last longer than the blonde one. He was quite easy to kill."

I let out a silent gasp when I heard what's been said. Naruto is dead? I immediately turn to Minashi, sympathy taking over every fiber of my being. She just lost her brother and I can't imagine the pain that she must feel.

"I see." Minashi mutters, clenching her fists angrily. "May he be at peace then."

I can't help but look away, feeling guilty about all this. It saddens me to see someone try to be strong even when they are hurting so much.

"This is all my fault." I utter. "I.. I am so sorry, Minashi."

"There is no need to apologize, Frost. This is a life of a ninja." She tells me proudly. "We all lose the ones we love one way or the other. But despite that, we have to be strong. So we would be able to protect those who need us." She then gives me a sad smile.

"Just let him have me." I tell Minashi. "I don't want you to suffer the same fate as Naruto. Please."

"I already said it, Your Highness." Minashi says, smile not faltering. "Naruto and I will remain even if you push is away." She then turns to Makito, now wearing a smirk on her lips. "Give it your best shot, Makito."

"Summoning Technique!" Makito yells and slams his hand to the ground, making smoke erupt there. And when the smoke clears, I can see that he had summoned two gigantic tigers. "Heheh.. let's see you handle this, Girl."

I scrunch my forehead once I realize something. What am I doing? This is not me. I clench my fists and look at the enemy with determination. I can't just stand here and do nothing!

Without hesitation, I take Minashi's side, making her look at me in a questioning manner. I just smile at her as I remove the bandages that covered my right hand up till this time.

"Minashi, I may not be a ninja like you are.." I tell her as I continue to remove the bandages. "..but I can fight. And there is no way I'm letting you fight him alone for my sake."

I finish removing the bandages, revealing what I have been concealing up till now: the mark of the blade. It might look like a mere symbol of a sword that's burnt unto the back of my hand. But only few in our clan are blessed with this mark.

I glare at Makito and whip my marked hand towards the ground. The mark glows with green and golden light before the said light forms a sword in my very hand. Then the light slowly vanishes and I now wield a sword that's adorned with a golden hilt and emerald gems.

"Minashi, we will fight him together." I tell Minashi, turning to her with a smile.

She smiles back. "It's good to have you back on track, Your Highness." She replies before turning to Makito. "Did you hear that, Makito? You are outnumbered. And clearly outmatched."

"Hahaha!" Makito laughs. "You think a sword is going to scare me? I've seen worse. Believe me."

"So confident.." Minashi says, chuckling amusedly. "You think you have won but you really haven't, Makito-dear."

Just after Minashi says that, both of the tigers that Makito had summoned erupts into nothing but smoke.

"What the!" Makito exclaims, eyes wide as he whirls his head from side to side in panic.

"Do not move." I feel relief immediately wash over me when I see the owner of the voice standing just behind Makito, pointing a dagger to the said mercenary's neck. Naruto. "Or I might end up cutting your throat off." He adds in a serious tone.

Minashi chuckles. "Good to have you back, Brother."

"Y-you?!" Makito says, eyes wide. "But I killed you! I saw you die with my very own eyes!"

"Man, you must be really stupid." Naruto comments, rolling his eyes. "I used kawarimi on the very last second. But I poured more chakra into the technique to make the illusion last longer."

"Damnit!" Makito says angrily. "I can't believe I fell for that!"

"You just did." Naruto says before he knocks Makito out. Then he turns to us. "Well, that was easy."

"Tie him up so we can transport him to prison." Minashi commands, tossing a rope to Naruto. "And be fast. We have a boat to catch."

"Yeah. Yeah." Naruto replies.

Minashi Namikaze:

I walk up to Frost just as he makes his sword disappear back into the mark that he has on the back of his hand. It would seem that the mark allows him to summon a sword with the use of his will. I can also tell that he is well trained in wielding a sword by the way he held the weapon a while ago.

"Why do you hide it?" I can't help but ask him out of curiosity when I see him cover the symbol again. Although I don't expect him to answer my question, I still wait for his response.

"It just reminds me of a memory that I long to forget." Is all he says as he tries to tie the knot for the bandages to hold. But with the use of only one hand to tie it, I doubt he'll finish it soon.

So, I make my way in front of him. "Let me, Your Highness." I say, gently prying away his other hand and tying the knot for him. Surprisingly, he lets me be until I finish.

"We should move soon." I say right after I finish tying the bandages. "We've wasted enough time here." I then turn to Naruto, who's currently tying up Makito. "Naruto, are you done yet?"

"Geez, give me a little more time. Will ya?" Naruto grumbles, glaring at me. "The guy's heavy and a little help would be nice."

I roll my eyes. "Then why aren't you using your clones?" I ask him with a raised eyebrow.

This makes him turn to me with a huge grin on his face. "Minashi, you are a genius!!" He exclaims and immediately creates two of his clones to help him out.

I can't help but smile. Sometimes, he just doesn't use his head.

"Minashi, how did you know about Makito?" Frost suddenly asks me, curiosity can be seen in his eyes.

"I knew all along that someone was following us and hid himself in the forest." I reply. "When you and Naruto started arguing, I found that as the best chance to send Naruto there and figure out if the person following us is an enemy."

"And weren't you worried if Naruto would be attacked?"

"I was." I reply. "Since you and I started talking, I was not able to sense what happened between Naruto and our follower. However, when Naruto, came out from the forest, I knew it wasn't him. The chakra signature was different."

"Weren't you worried about Naruto, then?"

"Yes, I was." I mutter. "When Makito came out and disguised himself as my brother, I immediately tried to sense for my brother's chakra in the forest but I could not find him there."

"Then, why didn't you leave me and look for your brother?" He asks, looking at me as if I have done something wrong. "Isn't that the only option you have if you want to keep your brother safe? Is he not that important to you?"

This instantly makes me angry. "For your information, Your Highness." I state. "I care about my brother more than anything in this world. He is the only reason why I strive to make myself stronger. So I would be able to protect him from harm."

He looks at me with a scrunched forehead. "If you think that, then why?" He asks, confusion clear in his eyes. "Why didn't you go and try to save him?"

"Because you needed me too, Your Highness." I state, making Frost widen his eyes. "I knew that if I left you, you might be taken. So, though a huge gamble, all I did was trust in my brother's capabilities and believe that he would be alright."

"To rely on mere trust and belief." Frost utters. "The result was not determined and yet it was a success. I can't believe it."

"Now, you should." I tell him. "You'll be surprised by the results."

Frost Akuma:

Indeed, I am. I find it quite bizarre, actually. Everything Minashi does goes against my principle. I'm all facts and practical decisions while she relies on trust and belief without even calculating the possibilities. And yet here I am, starting to think that she might be right. She's really something.

"I'm done!!" Naruto and his clones all say in unison, making Minashi turn to him.

"Good." Minashi says and then crouches to the ground. With her eyes closed, she then forms a series of hand signs before her pointing and middle finger glows with chakra. After that, she spins around with her glowing fingers pointing to the ground, resulting in the formation of a circle of chakra around her.

And then, with her glowing fingers, she draws runes inside the circle and writes a Japanese word that says 'prison' just outside the circle.

Once she's done, she slams her hand on the center of the circle, forming a yinyang symbol there and making the runes spread out and arrange themselves accordingly. Now, there are two smaller circles made up of the runes, just beside the first circle that Minashi had made.

"Carry him inside the big circle, Naruto." Minashi orders, opening her eyes and positioning herself inside one of the smaller circles.

Naruto immediately obeys, carrying Makito's unconscious body to the large circle. And when he's done, he positions himself inside the other smaller circle that's just opposite to Minashi's and does hand seals of his own. I wonder what they're doing.

"Transportation Seal.." Minashi says, locking both hands into a hand seal.

"Complete!" Naruto seem to continue what Minashi said.

"TRANSPORT!!" Both the twins yell and the large circle glows brightly, making me cover my eyes. And before I know it, Makito is gone and so is are runes and symbols. There are even no signs that the ground was used to create a gigantic seal.

"I wonder how much he was worth." Naruto says, grinning happily. "I hope he's enough to buy our groceries."

"Let's just continue the journey." Minashi says, ruffling Naruto's hair. "You think too much about money."

"Whatever, Minashi." Naruto says, smiling at his sister.

Naruto Namikaze:

It's been two days since we were attacked by Makito. No other enemies tried to attack us, so far. But I'm not glad about that. Minashi and I, we both know that the attacks won't cease. At least, that's how we have come to conclude Frost's trouble. And now, if the enemies are taking this much time before attacking again, then they must be planning something big and it worries me. Paranoid? Well, maybe I am. But I just can't afford to let my guard down even once.

Minashi and I have been discussing Frost's probable situation every now and then. We are not quite sure about it yet since Frost doesn't tell us anything but we know someone's after him, or more specifically, the amulet that he carries. It must be so powerful if someone wants it that badly.

As of now, we are still working on getting Frost to tell us. He's opened up to us a bit, to the point where he lets us call him by his name. But other than that, he's not revealing anything.

Anyway, as of now, it's almost dusk but luckily, we have reached the docks. In great timing, the boat that leaves for the Land of Snow has just arrived and is calling out for more passengers.

I can't help but groan as we near the said boat. I'm not that good with water transport. It makes me nauseous when I first set foot on it. But after a while, I recover. But not without mint.

"Minashi, can you buy me some mint flavored gum?" I say, turning to my sister and making a puppy-dog face. I know she can't resist the cuteness. "Lots of it."

She sighs. "Sure." She answers, smiling at me. "Stay with Frost. I'll get you your mints." She adds as she lefts.

"Your sister is quite something, eh?" Frost says, smiling as he looks at Minashi's retreating form.

I can't help but narrow my eyes at him. "Hey.." I say in a serious tone, making him turn to me in surprise. "If you want her, you're gonna have to go through me."

His eyes widen as distances himself from me. "W-what?!.. no.." He stutters, his face turning red. "T-that's not what I m-meant! I was j--"

"Hahaha!" I can't help but laugh, amused at his reaction.

"What's so funny?" He asks, looking even redder now.

"I was just messing with you." I tell him, grinning. "Don't overwork yourself. It's so funny."

He glares at me. "You're mean." He says.

I just grin at him before turning serious once again. "My sister is amazing." I can't help but say, remembering all the brave and cool things that she had done for me. "She's always there for me, protecting me and supporting me through everything. Although we don't have parents, it doesn't really matter. Minashi is there and that's enough for me." I add with a smile.

"I didn't know you had no parents." Frost says, looking at me in disbelief. "I.. I'm sorry." He adds, now sounding sympathetic.

"Nah. Don't be." I say with a smile. "Our parents died, saving our village and us. It was a heroic act and we are proud of them."

"Don't you.." Frost says, looking hesitant yet he continues anyway. "..you know. Blame them for leaving you at such times?"

"Sometimes I think that." I tell him honestly. "But Minashi makes me think otherwise. She says it would be best to treat such events as a motivation to make ourselves stronger." I then smile, thinking about my sister once again. "My sister, she sees things differently. No matter how bad things go, she always sees something good in it. It's what makes her special, I guess."

Frost sighs and then smiles. "You really care for her so much, huh?" He asks.

"I do." I reply, smiling. "I don't know what I would do if something happens to her and I fail to protect her."

Suddenly, a smaller version of the Transportation seal appears right in front of me. My eyes immediately widen and I step inside the seal, wrenching Frost to my side.

"W-what's going on?!" Frost asks, surprised that I suddenly grabbed him.

I immediately do hand signs. "It's Minashi." I reply. "She needs us." I finish doing the required hand signs and immediately slam my hand on the seal. "Close your eyes. This might be new to you." I instruct Frost just as our whole surroundings glows brightly and before I know it, we are already someplace else - in a forest of some sort.

I ignore the dizziness that clings unto me due to the transport and look for my sister. "Minashi!" I immediately shout and run over to my sister once I see her kneeling on the ground.

I can see that she is already finishing up on bandaging an injury. The wound is found on her left shoulder. There are also some bruises and scratches all over her but the only serious wound so far is the one she is bandaging.

"What the hell happened?!" I can't help but say in panic, kneeling down to her level and checking her for any other injuries. "Who did this?! I will kill him!!" I then stand up and look around for enemies, anger building up inside me. But I see no enemies.

"The enemy is gone." Minashi says, standing up and turning to me. "He left when I finished the hand signs for Transportation seal. It would seem he doesn't want the fight to prolong."

Minashi Namikaze:

"You!!" Naruto yells, grabbing Frost by the collar of his shirt. "This is all your fault!"

"Me?!" Frost exclaims, knocking away Naruto's hand viciously. "I didn't even do anything!"

"Well that's exactly it!!" Naruto yells, glaring at the Prince hatefully. "You don't do anything! You can't even tell us who is after you or why!!"

This silences Frost but he glares at my brother just as hatefully.

"See?!" Naruto groans, pointing to Frost with rage. "You go all silent whenever I bring it up!! What is it that you're so afraid of?!"

I decide it's time to step in between them. "Naruto, it's alright." I tell my brother. "Let it go."

"Let it go?!" Naruto says in disbelief. "Minashi, you are hurt!" He then points to Frost in an accusing manner. "And it's all because he won't tell us anything about the enemies that we might encounter! We don't even know what the enemies would look like! Or the skills that they have!"

I can tell that my brother is pissed. And I know there is nothing that will calm him down when he is angered because I was hurt.

So, I let him be for a moment, letting him yell all the insults he can at Frost. I hope Frost can handle it though.

After a few minutes, Naruto stops speaking and then leaps away. I know he's only going to get fresh air to calm himself. I then turn to Frost. "Forgive my brother's disrespect, Frost." I tell him. "I believe you understand why he is acting this way?"

Frost nods but he doesn't say anything nor does he make eye contact with me. He has his gaze fixed on the ground. However, I sense that he is feeling guilty about all this.

"I know you're only trying to protect us, Frost." I tell him. "You think that keeping us from the truth would protect us." I add. "But it doesn't apply anymore. We've gone this far and if you keep this up, you would only end up getting us killed."

"T-then go.." Frost says weakly. "Leave me and you won't have to die. Just go."

"We've already been through this, Frost." I state, feeling slightly angered that he is pushing us away again. "Our decision remains the same. Our lives, however, are in your hands. It is up to you."

I then turn away but I don't leave. I just stand there and wait. "The boat might be leaving soon." I tell him. "We should board it now."

"I'll tell you everything." He finally says, making me turn to him. He sighs and looks at me with eyes full of regret. "I'm s-sorry. I should have told you earlier. Now you're hu--"

"There is no need to apologize." I cut him off, smiling. "The wound will heal in time." I then stretch out my hand for him to take. "Let us go, Frost. We don't want the boat leaving without us."

He takes my hand and we leave the forest together.

The boat then departs soon after the three of us board it. We then find our assigned room and then settle there. Of course, we had to share a room, just to be safe. And besides, it helps lessen the expenses.

"It's almost evening." I say, taking a scroll from my holders. "We should get some rest soon."

"Yeah." Naruto says, chewing his minty bubble gum. "But I'm hungry."

"That's because you're still chewing your minty gums" I tell him.

"I'll go and ask someone when they'll serve supper." Frost volunteers, leaving without even waiting for us to agree.

I sigh, letting Frost be. I already sensed the boat for any suspicious characters when we boarded it. And I found none. So, it should be safe to let Frost roam around without Naruto and I, supervising.

"So, is he gonna tell us anything yet?" Naruto asks, taking off his jacket.

"He said he would." I reply. "He's just afraid, that's all. You should understand him."

"Yeah.. yeah.." Naruto says with a roll of his eyes as he walks into the shower. "I'll just take a shower. I'll do the understanding later." And with that, he closes the door.

I am left all by myself now and I can't help but feel worried. The wound on my shoulder is not normal. I've been wounded many times before and yet none of my previous wounds feel like this.

It's as if thousands of needles are piercing the said wound at the same time and it hurts like hell. Whoever had attacked me, he must have done something to me.

"Excuse me...do you have any gum for sale?", I ask an old vendor woman. "The ones with mint flavor?"

"Oh! No dear." The old woman says with a kind smile. "Things like that are expensive. A vendor such as I am cannot afford it."

"I see." I tell her with a smile of my own. "Do you know where I can buy some?"

"Try the big store at the end of the docks." She replies. "They should have some."

"Thank you." I thank her and bow my head slightly, readying myself to leave.

"Your Welcome dearie."

And so, I continue walking, looking for the big store that the old woman had mentioned. 'The end of the docks is father than I thought.' I can't help but think as I look around. It's already like a forest here. There are lots of trees that cover most of the terrain.

After a few more seconds, I start to sense people going about their own businesses somewhere in front of me. I quicken my pace and in no time, I found the store.

Despite the fact that the store is in a hidden part of the docks, there are many people here. Most are buying miscellaneous things from the said store. And some are doing other things. But I don't pay attention.

I immediately ask for some mints. Once they give me the said items, I hand them my payment and leave. I've already been gone for a while. The boat might be leaving soon.

But then I suddenly sense something fast and small coming at me, making me immediately step to the side, dodging the oncoming object - a senbon needle.

I then face the person who had launched it at me, looking at him seriously. As I can see, he is wearing a dark long cloak that reaches up to below his knees. The remainder of his legs are covered with bandages and he is wearing a wooden sandal.

His hair is long and is kept in a messy braid. Half of his face is covered by a dark mask, concealing his mouth and nose. His eyes are dark green in color and are disturbingly lifeless.

As for his chakra, it is not refined. Which tells me that he might not be a ninja. However, based upon how he threw the senbon needle and the katana he has strapped to his hip, he must be good at wielding his weapons.

"Who are you?" I ask him.

Instead of answering me, he throws a number of senbons at me in a very quick pace. I manage to deflect it all with the use of my adamantine chains.

However, the man is quick to unsheathe his katana and start attacking me. He aims to cut my stomach, to which I block with the blades that are attached to my chains.

He immediately slashes at me once again, this time a whole lot fast. My chains can barely keep up with him. Fortunately, I'm still able to block it. We continue the fight for a few seconds more.

"Tch!" He says, clearly angry that none of his attacks had reached me.

Then, he does a stance, running both his middle finger and pointing finger to the blade of his katana. When he does that, red symbols and markings appear on the blade of his katana.

After that, he charges, throwing senbon needles at me as he dashes. I immediately block his attacks. Once he's near me, he immediately swings a downward vertically slash at me. I, however, move to block it with my blades.

As his katana is still locked with my adamantine blades, he suddenly thrusts his blade further and to my surprise, his weapon cuts right through my chains. I immediately move away but his katana had already slashed my left shoulder.

I hiss, feeling the small wound hurt intensely. But I am able to kick the enemy away before he could do me any more damage.

Then, with gritted teeth, I look at my wound. The veins surrounding it had suddenly turned dark. I then narrow my eyes at the enemy's katana. It's probably not an ordinary katana, judging from the way it just went through my chains and create a wound that hurt so badly.

In this case, I'm gonna need Naruto. So, without wasting time, I immediately weave hand signs and slam my hand on the ground, making a mini Transportation Seal appear there.

I then turn to the enemy but he's no longer there. Even when I tried sensing, he's nowhere near me. So, I unseal a bandage from my scrolls and start dressing the wound.

I remove the bandages from my wound and remove my tunic, leaving me with only a tube brassiere. Then, I face a mirror and I can see that the darkened veins had already spread, dulling the color of the skin where the veins had spread to. I wonder what's going to happen?

The door suddenly opens and Frost enters. I turn to him. His eyes immediately widen as he turns away. "M-minashi!" He exclaims, turning red by the second. "I-i'm sorry. I didn't mean to barge in like that."

I just smile. "It's alright." I tell him as I unseal a bandage and some medicine. "I'm just gonna change the bandage on my wound." I sit on the floor and ready myself.

"Wait.." Frost says, making his way in front of me and kneeling down to my level. His eyes should concern and horror as he stares at the wound, even brushing his hand over it. "This wound.." He says. "It can't be."

"WHAT THE HELL!!!" I hear Naruto bellow really loud once he comes out from the shower. "I'M ONLY GONE FOR A FEW MINUTES AND YOU'RE ALREADY MOLESTING MY SISTER?!"

"N-naruto!" Frost's eyes widen as he distances himself from me. "It's not what you think."

"NOT WHAT YOU THINK MY ASS!!" Naruto yells, flinging soap in Frost's direction. "Take that!!" He then grabs a snow globe on a shelf and throws it at Frost, to which Frost catches and puts it down gently.

"Naruto, listen to me!" Frost yells, gesturing Naruto to calm down but Naruto doesn't listen and continues yelling and throwing anything he can at Frost.

After a whole minute, I grow tired of Naruto's ranting. "Naruto, could you please stop your ranting and listen to Frost?" I tell him.

"Minashi, he touched you!" Naruto exclaims. "And while you're only we--"

"I know what you saw!" I yell, cutting him off. "But you're over thinking things. Listen to the guy!"

Naruto glares at Frost. "Why were you touching my sister while she only has her bra on?" Naruto asks slowly, narrowing his eyes at the intimidated Frost.

"Her wound." Frost blurts out. "Look at her wound."

Naruto Namikaze:

I turn to Minashi, looking at her wound. My eyes widen once I see it. The cut had turned black and veins that are surrounding it had darkened.

"Minashi.." I say, walking near her and looking at the wound closely. "Does it hurt?"

"Yeah." Minashi replies. "Like hell it does."

"What's wrong with it?" I can't help but ask. "It's.. it's.."

"It's poison." Frost is the one to finish what I said. I immediately turn to him. "Minashi has been poisoned. And it's slowly consuming her body. In time, she won't be able to move."

He ends what he had to say right there and I can't help but turn to Minashi, worried. What are we going to do?

The End.

Up next on The Lethal Duo, Chapter 4: Time is Less.


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